The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought a status report on the inquiry being conducted into the alleged suicide in
police custody
of an accused arrested in the case of firing outside actor
Salman Khan
‘s residence.
A vacation bench of Justices Sandeep Marne and Neela Gokhale also directed for the CCTV footage of the police station and the call data record of the police officers concerned to be preserved.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by Rita Devi, mother of accused Anuj Thapan, who died on May 1 inside the toilet of the Mumbai police crime branch’s lock-up. While the police claim that Thapan killed himself, his mother in her petition filed on May 3 in the high court alleged foul play and claimed that he was killed.
In her plea, Devi sought the high court to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the death of her son. The petition said Thapan was physically assaulted and tortured by the police in custody.
On Wednesday, additional public prosecutor
Prajakta Shinde
told the court that as per law a magistraterial inquiry has been initiated into the death. “An Accidental Death Report (ADR) has also been filed and the probe into the same has been transferred to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on May 3,” Shinde said.
Devi’s lawyers insisted for the probe to be transferred to the CBI, claiming that it has been 14 days since the death. The court said it could not ‘blindly’ transfer the probe and sought to know the status of both the inquiries.
“What is the status of the magisterial inquiry and also the CID probe? File a status report. Let us first see what is the status of these two inquiries,” the bench said.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on May 22.
“In the meantime, the CCTV footage of the police station and the call data record (CDR) of the concerned police officers shall be preserved,” the court said.
On April 14, two motorcycle-borne persons opened fire outside actor Salman Khan’s residence in Bandra area of the city. The alleged shooters – Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal – were later arrested from Gujarat. Thapan was arrested on April 26 from Punjab along with one other person in the case. So far, six persons have been arrested in connection with the case.
Salman Khan house firing case update: Mumbai Police arrest sixth suspect, Harpal Singh, from Haryana
