Now Reading: SC orders CBI probe, slams Chhattisgarh cover-up of custodial death
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SC orders CBI probe, slams Chhattisgarh cover-up of custodial death
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into the custodial death of Shravan Suryavanshi in Chhattisgarh, accusing top state officials of a deliberate cover-up. The bench directed the state government…
The Story in Brief
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into the custodial death of Shravan Suryavanshi in Chhattisgarh, accusing top state officials of a deliberate cover-up. The bench directed the state government to pay Rs 25 lakh as interim compensation to the family. Suryavanshi was arrested on January 18, 2024, for possessing raw Mahua liquor and lodged in Bilaspur jail. He was referred to hospital on January 21 and died the next day.
The court, citing the high court order, said the death resulted from violence while in custody. It found the explanation of the DGP, director general (prisons), and principal secretary (home) as 'perfunctory and pedantic'. The bench said the medical report, which attributed death to cardiopulmonary arrest and alcoholic withdrawal, was an attempt to mislead. It asked the CBI director to register a case immediately and investigate the conduct of state officials who failed to act on a judicial inquiry report.
The Indian Opinion
The Supreme Court has rightly rejected the state's story of a judicial inquiry being incomplete. Too often, custodial deaths are blamed on alcohol withdrawal or illness. The court saw through the medical report as a smokescreen. Now the test is whether the CBI names the senior officers, the DGP, prisons director, and home secretary, who took 'blissful ignorance' as their defence.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
