Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

Now, CBI to re-evaluate statements of witnesses

- HT Correspond­ent lkoreporte­rsdesk@hindustant­imes.com

After failing to get any substantia­l clue, the Central Bureau of Investigat­ion (CBI) sleuths are re-evaluating the statements of nearly 30 witnesses in the mysterious death of 2007 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer Anurag Tewari.

Sources said the CBI so far had not found any proper evidence that could help them resolve the mystery behind Tewari’s death. “The investigat­ors are left with no other option but to re-evaluate the statements of the witnesses,” said a source.

The source said the investigat­ors are preparing a list of questions while evaluating the witnesses’ statements, which will be asked with Tewari’s UP cadre batchmate and the vice chairman of Lucknow Developmen­t Authority (LDA) Prabhu Narain Singh, who had last spotted Tewari on the morning of May 17.

Singh was staying with him at room number 19 of state guest house on Meera Bai Marg three days before his mysterious death.

The source said the witnesses included the staff of the guest houses, roadside vendors near the guest house on Meera Bai Marg where Tewari was found lying dead, security guard and two drivers of the LDA vice chairman.

The source said the CBI on Thursday even tried to recreate the sequence of event but the continuous rain all through the day played spoilsport.

It is to be noted that Tewari was found dead in the middle of the road, barely 50 metres from the state guest house.

He came to Lucknow after attending a mid-career training at Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administra­tion in Mussoorie in April. He also visited his home in Bahraich during his trip to UP.

The UP government recommende­d the CBI probe after Tewari’s family met chief minister Yogi Adityanath and alleged foul play into the death on May 22. A murder FIR was lodged with Hazratganj police on the same day.

Tewari’s family had alleged that a multi-crore scam in the food and civil supplies department in Bengaluru was the reason behind the murder. And the special crime branch team of CBI’s Delhi unit took over the case on June 17.

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