CBI court dismisses final report in police officer's murder

A CBI court Tuesday quashed the final report submitted by the investigation agency over the killing of a senior police officer, whose widow accused Uttar Pradesh's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiyya of being behind the crime.

Punching holes in the report submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last year, which gave a clean chit to the minister and four of his accomplices, the court said there were many aspects that were not adequately probed by the agency.

Parveen Azad, the widow of Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haq, had objected to the final report and filed a review petition.

The police officer was killed by a mob in March 2013 in Kunda in Pratapgarh district, following which the widow alleged that Raja Bhaiyya had conspired to eliminate her husband as he had refused to bow down to his diktat.

Raja Bhaiiya - an Independent legislator from the region - had to quit as minister following the allegations but was re-inducted in the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet again after receiving a clean chit from the CBI.

A lawyer for Parveen Azad said the court, while quashing the closure report, raised questions like why the 17 policemen accompanying the late officer were not even injured while Haq was lynched by the mob and shot.

The court also raised questions as to why the CBI dismissed posers by Parveen Azad that her husband was killed for taking on illegal mining at Gautami Ghat under the patronage of Raja Bhaiyya.

Dismissing the CBI's final report, the court also questioned the clean chit given to the minister and his accomplices - Hari Om Srivastava, Gulshan Yadav, Guddu Singh and Rohit.

The court also ordered a re-investigation in the case.

Expressing satisfaction at the court's directives, Parveen Azad said it was a "significant first step in getting justice" for her late husband.