New Delhi: A Keralite man's eight-year-long fight seeking a proper investigation into his lone son’s mysterious death has finally yielded result.
The Supreme Court has entrusted the the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) further probe into the death of Rohit Radhakrishnan, an MBBS student, who was found dead in 2014 in Mangaluru.
The 21-year-old belonged to Kuzhikkala at Kozhencherry in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district.
Rohit was a student of AJ Institute of Medical Sciences. He met with his end in the fourth year of studies.
The investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Bengaluru, was not in the right direction, observed the SC bench, chaired by Justice M R Shah.
The SC also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on the CID.
The money must be handed over to Rohit’s father Advocate M S Radhakrishnan within four weeks, the order said.
The inconclusive case
Rohit was found dead in March 2014 near Thanneer Bhawi Beach in Mangaluru. Rohit’s body was found beheaded.
The police concluded it was a road accident and charged a case against Rohit.
Charging a dead person in a case is unheard of, observed the apex court and dismissed the case against Rohit.
Losing trust in the police investigation, Rohit’s father had given complaints to the then Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the then Karnataka Home Minister. Later, the case was handed over to the CID. However, the CID also concluded that Rohit’s death was a road accident. With this, Radhakrishnan moved the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court clarified, it cannot be taken as a mere road accident and ordered that all details and documents related to the CID investigation must be handed over to the CBI within two weeks.
The SC also directed the CBI to report the progress in the investigation to the Karnataka High Court once every two months.
Rohit was the only son of Adv Radhakrishnan and Dr Sreedevi of Meppurath (Thannisseril) House at Kuzhikkala.
