SC allows Gaurav Dutt's wife to withdraw plea for independent inquiry into husband's death

The Supreme Court has allowed Sreyashi Dutt, wife of former senior police officer Gaurav Dutt who allegedly committed suicide and blamed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the suicide note, to withdraw her plea for an independent inquiry into the death of her husband.

A Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Aniruddha Bose on Friday said that after interacting with her, it was satisfied that the request for withdrawal of the writ petition should be allowed.

"Petitioner (Sreyashi Dutt) appeared in person in pursuant to the order dated May 9, 2019. One of us (Justice Aniruddha Bose) has interacted with the petitioner and we are satisfied that the request for withdrawal of the writ petition should be allowed. We order accordingly," the bench said in its order.

On May 9, the Bench had said it wants to interact with Sreyashi to ascertain why she wants to withdraw her plea and asked her to appear before it.

Sreyashi had sought to withdraw her petition, saying she was not in a proper mental condition when she agreed to file the case.

The Bench further directed the West Bengal government to pay Rs 25,000 to Sreyashi on account of the expenses that have been incurred by her in attending the court proceedings.

A1986-batch IPS officer, Gaurav Dutt was reportedly found with a slit wrist at his home on February 19. Dutt had taken voluntary retirement last year.