High Court junks plea to let CBI probe Haryana IPS officer's suicide

CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana high court has refused to hand over the investigation into the suicide of senior Haryana IPS officer Y Puran Kumar to CBI. "There does not appear any unnecessary delay or laxity in the investigation of the case to date.

In view of the above, no case for handing over the case to CBI is made out," the bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu observed on Wednesday and dismissed a plea seeking a CBI probe. The Chief Justice further observed, "To satisfy the guidelines the apex court has directed to be adhered to while handing over investigation to an independent agency or not, unfortunately, there was no satisfactory answer to that from the petitioner." The petitioner, Navneet Kumar, 43, a resident of Ludhiana in Punjab, had submitted that neither had any arrest been made nor any officer joined the investigation. The standing counsel for Union Territory of Chandigarh informed the bench that 14 persons were arrayed as accused and 22 witnesses examined and their statements recorded. CCTV footage related to the incident was taken into possession and saved for further probe and material related to the incident sent to the CFSL Chandigarh for further examination, the counsel said.

"The petitioner has no locus standi in the case. The FIR was registered immediately after receiving the complaint. The next day, a SIT was constituted by the UT police. The petition is purely a publicity stunt, as there is no delay on the part of the police in this matter," senior advocate Amit Jhanji, representing the UT administration, told high court. After examining the matter, the bench ordered the dismissal of the petition. Kumar was found dead in Chandigarh on Oct 7. In a note supposedly written by him, he had alleged caste-based discrimination by fellow officers.