HC transfers death case of lawyer's son from CBI to SIT

A full bench, comprising Justices R Banumathi, P R Shivakumar and S Nagamuthu, was not convinced with the CBI's contention that the death was a suicide.

"..The CBI has not investigated the case thoroughly from various angles to come to a logical conclusion... (the CBI's conclusion) has not been fully supported by the facts and circumstances gathered during investigation," the bench said.

Sathishkumar, son of lawyer Sankarasubbu, went missing on June 7, 2011. His body was found floating in a lake six days later.

On Sankarasubbu's request, the High Court transferred the probe from the state police to CBI, which in August last submitted that Sathishkumar's death was a suicide.

The court appointed Raghavan as Investigating Officer of SIT, to be assisted by Dr M Narayana Reddy, former Professor and Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Osmania University, Hyderabad.

The bench said Raghavan shall select his SIT team from Tamil Nadu Police and also directed the government and DGP to spare the services of police officers required by him.

It also directed the Home Secretary to pay an initial renumeration of Rs 1,50,000 to Raghavan and Rs 75,000 to Narayana Reddy within four weeks and said the final renumeration shall be decided later.