Court sets aside closure report in deputy SP Haq murder case

LUCKNOW: A special CBI court on Monday rejected clean chit given to Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya and his associates in Kunda deputy SP Zia Ul Haq murder case and directed the central agency to probe further into the matter.
Punching holes in final report of the case submitted by the CBI, the court rapped the investigative agency for its cursory probe and warned it not to fulfill a mere formality.The special CBI magistrate Shraddha Tiwari directed CBI to collect further evidence and complete the investigation within reasonable time and furnish the report in the court.
The court passed the order on the protest petition filed by Haq's widow Parveen Azad who had questioned the CBI clean chit to Raja Bhaiyya and his men on several points. The court perused the case diary and heard the arguments raised on behalf of Parveen. It found substance in the protest, hence set aside the CBI's closure report submitted on July 31, 2013.
In her FIR lodged on March 2, 2013, Parveen had alleged that Gulshan Yadav, Hari Om Srivastava, Rohit Singh and Guddu Singh had killed her husband on the instructions of Raja Bhaiyya.
The court said the mob is said to have attacked Haq. Many cops were present on the spot but none retaliated with the official firearm. The injuries which the cops are said to have received are very simple in nature. The CBI did not investigate the conduct of the cops.
It also noted that as per the probe, the mob intended to torch the house of Guddu Singh, but after death of Haq the mob did not try to complete its task. The CBI rested the case on the result of only polygraph test and did not try to collect additional evidence. The CBI did not look into the aspect as to why the station officer Hathigaon, Manoj Kumar Shukla, manipulated with the FIR. The CBI did not even record the statement of the informant under section 161 of the CrPC. It did not conduct poly test on other accused. The probe agency did not probe the angle that villagers might not have spoken the truth under Raja Bhaiyya's political influence.
The court opined that the CBI should have considered these aspects of the probe too but did not. The CBI did not probe another aspect that Haq was allegedly in dispute against those involved in sand mining in the area. It, therefore, directed the agency to look into these angles too and file probe report in the court within reasonable time.
Reacting to the court order, Parveen said "this is the first step towards justice. The court has ordered further investigation and rejected CBI's closure report. I have high expectations from CBI and hope the mistakes in the agency's probe will be rectified. I only want re-investigation and I will continue my fight for justice."
Haq was killed by a mob on March 2 in Balipur village in Pratapgarh where he had rushed after a village head was shot dead over land dispute. The matter was probed initially by the local police but was transferred to the CBI by the state government on Parveen's demand. On June 7, the CBI filed charge sheet against 13 persons. Though the agency also grilled Raja Bhaiyya and his cousin Akshay Pratap Singh, it did not include their names in the charge sheet. The agency later conducted polygraph test on Raja Bhaiyya on June 21 and gave him clean chit on July 31 in its final report. Raja Bhaiyya, who was forced to resign from the cabinet after being named in the case, was later re-inducted by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as food and civil supplies minister in October last year.