Police told to be fair in murder probe

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has directed the police to conduct a fair probe into the murder of a man allegedly by his close friend after his mother complained of laxity in the investigation.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumedh Kumar Sethi gave the direction on the application filed by Anu Duggal, alleging that despite providing the names of suspects to the police, they were trying to prove it was a suicide.

The court had on the last date of hearing directed lodging of FIR against Megha and her father RK Tiwari and had pulled up the police for deliberately attempting to portray it as a suicide.

Duggal, who said she has not been examined in the case yet, had lodged the complaint alleging that her 23-year-old son Arnav was strangled to death by Megha at her Dwarka residence on June 13 last year.

“Needless to say that it is expected from the investigating officer (IO) that he shall examine all persons whose version is pertinent to the case and collect all material that is relevant,” the court said.

The court, which had earlier rejected the version of the accused father and daughter that Arnav took his life by hanging from a ceiling fan, said “It has already been pointed out by the court on the last date of hearing that one need not be a rocket scientist to know that there is some discrepancy in the version given by RK Tiwari (father of victim’s female friend) regarding the fan in question vis-a-vis the version of the forensic team and what is apparent from the photographs of the fan. All these points shall be looked into by the IO.”

The court, however, said it can only supervise the probe and not step into the shoes of the IO.

The court also sought clarification from the DCP Crime Branch on the status report submitted before it saying, it does not show if the inquiry has been assigned to him by the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and posted the matter for hearing on April 28.

The court had earlier slammed the police for its shoddy probe into the death of Arnav, who was a manager at ITC Grand Bharat, with a direction to register an FIR to probe his “tragic death” saying the case required thorough investigation to unearth the “blatant attempt” of the police to give it the colour of suicide.

It has also ordered an inquiry into the alleged lapses on the part of the police officials involved in the case and directed that strict action be taken if a deliberate attempt to scuttle the probe was found.

It had also transferred the probe from Inspector Sunil Jain, the investigating officer, saying it be given “to some other responsible and senior officer”.

Arnav’s mother, in her plea seeking FIR into the matter, alleged various contradictions and discrepancies in the investigation by the police and that it was hand-in-glove with the accused.

The court had accepted the contention of the complainant and said the ligature marks found on the backside of victim’s neck hinted at strangulation and not hanging.

It had also noted that the accused woman had said she had ended her relationship with the victim but she had stayed with him a night before the incident.