The Supreme Court has reserved its orders on a writ petition filed by activist Chetan Janardhan Kamble seeking an independent investigation into the role of medical staff and top Uttar Pradesh Police officers in the destruction of evidence in the Hathras rape and murder case. “The facts clearly indicate the involvement and complicity of certain UP State Police and officials of the State government machinery in manipulation and destruction of evidence and shielding the accused in respect of the subject crime,” Kamble said in a writ petition, filed by advocate Vipin Nair.
The petition was reserved for orders on October 15 along with a separate one filed by Satyama Dubey. The Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde had voiced an inclination to have the Allahabad HC monitor the ongoing CBI probe. In his petition, Kamble said, to start with, the “government hospital at Aligarh had not taken vaginal swabs and body smears of the victim or collected drop sheet after change of clothes, despite finding torn clothes and bleeding on under-garments”.
It said certain high-ranking police and government officials, even before the investigation was complete, had ruled out the possibility of rape, and made public statements to this extent. This, the petition said, “indicates a clear nexus between the State Police and the accused”. The plea said the “bizarre and barbaric manner in which the body of the victim was stealthily cremated in the dead of the night by police officials smacks of them being involved in suppressing the crime rather than investigating it”.
"This unpardonable crime by the State Police and other government instrumentality, which denied the family of the victim even the basic right to perform last rites on the body of the victim is nothing but depravity of the soul,” the petition said.
The petition said the intelligence report relied on by UP “appears to be prepared on second thoughts, and in any case it does not mention how police handling, transporting and cremating of the victims' body would be necessary to quell any law and order situation”.
CBI questions relatives of accused
After having questioned the Hathras victim’s family over two days, the 15-member CBI team probing the case interrogated the relatives of the four accused. After a four-hour session, the team left with papers and evidence from their houses. Narendra Singh, claimed Sandeep, his son and one of the accused, was innocent. “I was with him when the girl is said to have been raped,” he said.
“It was from a local we got to know that the girl was injured,” Narendra Singh said. “I am ready for a narco test. We have nothing to hide.” He added that there had been a feud between the two families. “We went to jail in 2001 because of a complaint by the girl’s grandfather.” The CBI team left their house with Sandeep’s phone and a marksheet.
The team had reached the village after a visit to the Chandpa police station where the first FIR in the case had been filed. Families of three of the accused - Sandeep, Ravi and Ramu - live in houses on the same premises. Lavkush’s house is just a little ahead.
Ravi’s father Attar Singh declined to comment on the CBI’s questioning. “They have taken some papers that belong to Ravi with them,” he said. Sources said the CBI is likely to seek permission for questioning the four accused who have been incarcerated in Aligarh district jail. Sandeep was arrested on September 20, Lavkush on September 23, Ravi on September 25 and Ramu on September 26.
Sandeep has not spoken to his family since he was incarcerated, nor have Ramu and Lavkush. Only Ravi has spoken to his family twice, senior jail superintendent at Aligarh prison Alok Singh confirmed. Aligarh district jail’s jailer Pramod Kumar Singh said Covid-19 restrictions have meant families are not allowed to meet inmates but they can speak over the phone twice a week
