New Delhi, November 12
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a CBI probe into Kanpur Kanpur businessman Manish Gupta’s death under mysterious circumstances after the police picked him up in a raid at a Gorakhpur hotel in September.
Manish (36) had allegedly died after being assaulted by policemen on the night of September 27 in Krishna Palace hotel in Gorakhpur where he was staying along with two of his friends. However, the police had claimed that Manish suffered a head injury after he fell during questioning. He died at the BRD Medical College.
Acting on a petition filed by the businessman’s wife Meenakshi Gupta, a Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud transferred the probe into the Uttar Pradesh Police to the CBI and shifted the trial of the case to a CBI special court in the national capital.
Six policemen have been charged with murder in the case. The victim’s widow Meenakshi Gupta demanded that the probe be handed over to the CBI and the case be shifted to Delhi to ensure a fair trial without any interference by powerful police personnel. The Supreme Court had on October 29 issued notices to the Centre and the UP Government on her plea.
The petitioner’s counsel had pointed out that a press release issued by the office of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced that the state government would recommend a CBI probe but nothing has happened.
“Till now CBI has not registered the case nor is there any investigation going on by the SIT constituted by the state government. Not even crime scene recreation has been done till now,” petitioner’s counsel had submitted.
The petitioner said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on September 30 assured her that the case would be handed over to the CBI when she met him along with her family members.
An SIT of UP Police had been constituted to investigate the case till it was handed over to the CBI but the central agency was yet to take over the probe, she had pointed out.
