Kochi: The Kerala High Court here on Friday urged the Union government to notify CBI probe into Sidharthan death case immediately. In the interim order, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas asked the Centre to issue the notification under Section 5 (of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act) while considering the petition of deceased's father Jayaprakash.
“ As every minute counts, delay in the CBI probe will affect the case. Why does the CBI probe get delayed? Who is responsible for it?” asked the court.
Sidharthan, a second-year student at the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in Pookode, Wayanad, was found dead on February 18, allegedly after enduring severe ragging and mob trials.
The deceased student's father approached the High Court on Thursday seeking intervention to initiate a CBI probe into his son's death days after declaring a protest against the Kerala government. The petitioner alleged that the government deliberately delayed the CBI probe to facilitate bail for the accused.
The High Court further pointed out that the state government handed over the documents related to the case to the centre 18 days after notifying the CBI probe. The court will consider Jayaprakash's plea again on April 9.
As per reports, CBI is awaiting a reference from the Centre after which it will re-register the FIR filed by Kerala Police as its own case, officials said.
Once the case is re-registered, a team of CBI officials will visit the state soon with the forensics team to take over documents from the local police and start an investigation, they said.
According to the procedure, the CBI starts a probe in such state-referred cases by re-registering the FIR of local police. The findings which are submitted in the form of a final report to a court after the completion of the probe can be completely different from allegations in the FIR.
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