High Court Hands Over Himachal Chief Engineer's Death Case To CBI

(MENAFN- IANS) Shimla, May 23 (IANS) In a setback to the state's Congress government, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Friday transferred the investigation into the death of Himachal Pradesh Power Corp Ltd (HPPCL) Chief Engineer-cum-General Manager Vimal Negi from the state police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Pronouncing the order, Justice Ajay Mohan Goel directed the CBI to take over the probe from the police's special investigation team (SIT), led by Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Gandhi and directed that no state-cadre officer should be attached with the CBI team for a fair investigation.

Negi went missing on March 10, and his body was recovered from the Bhakra Dam in Bilaspur eight days later.

His family had been demanding a CBI inquiry, but the state government did not accept their plea.

The victim's wife, Kiran Negi, moved the high court to demand a CBI probe. However, the government had constituted a Special Investigating Team (SIT) after registering a case of abetment to suicide against top HPPCL functionaries, comprising HPPCL Managing Director Harikesh Meena, Director (Personnel) Shivam Pratap and Director (Electrical) Desh Raj.

Petitioner's counsel R.K. Bawa said: "Kiran Negi was not satisfied with the SIT's probe from day one. Accepting our plea, the court has directed that no Himachal-cadre officer will be part of the CBI investigation. The government failed to act on the report of Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Onkar Chand (Sharma), in which he indicted officers accused by the family of misbehaviour. The government withheld his report."

"The SIT was biased and only looked into the medical history of the victim,” he told the media.

However, Advocate General Anoop Rattan said they were not averse to investigation by any agency. "The probe being carried out by the police was fair and transparent. Our goal is justice. We won't be filing an appeal (against the order)."

Additional Chief Secretary Sharma had submitted a 66-page fact-finding inquiry report to the government on April 8. He declined to review the report on the request of the Secretary, Power, to include the rebuttal of the three officers, who faced allegations. The conflicting affidavits submitted by Director General of Police Atul Verma and the Shimla Superintendent of Police had also put a question mark on a fair inquiry by the SIT.

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