Civil defence woman killed, parents seek probe by CBI

New Delhi: Months after their daughter, 21-year-old Rabia Saifi, a civil defence volunteer in Delhi, was brutally murdered with her private parts mutilated, Sameed Ahmad and Praveen Jahan have now moved the Punjab and High Court seeking a CBI probe in the case — alleging that Rabia was murdered in a larger conspiracy to suppress the alleged large-scale racket of fake Covid challans and corruption among civil defence officials.

The petition has argued that there is rampant corruption among the civil defence personnel in Delhi and that they were issuing fake challans and pocketing money under the garb of enforcing Covid-appropriate behaviour.

According to the petition, which was filed by advocate Ajay Kalra and is set to be argued by advocate Mehmood Pracha, "... As a part of the above-referred racket, a lot of violators were being let of with bribes and as such, the said amounts were also landing in the pockets of corrupt officials. Having become aware of the above-said position and realising that the money being deposited with her for safe custody were all obtained through corrupt and illegal means, she had informed the above facts to the Petitioners and had also told them that despite here unwillingness to take the risk of keeping the above noted illegal money in her custody, she was under tremendous pressure from her superiors and she had also expressed the apprehension that she may be made a scapegoat by her superiors in the event of any refusal or complaint by her and her job would also be at risk."

The woman's parents submitted that Rabia's superior, DANICS officer Ravinder Mehra, was arrested by the Delhi Police in relation to the above-mentioned illegal activities just a day before she disappeared from her office.

The plea added that the Haryana Police had registered a case in the matter and closed it simply after the confession of a man named Nizamuddin, who claimed to be her husband, despite it being in the jurisdiction of the Delhi

Police.

The plea said that the Haryana Police FIR in the case was wholly wrong and contained incorrect and misleading facts just to conceal the real culprits behind the disappearance and brutal murder of the 21-year-old woman. The petitioners had earlier approached the Supreme Court with the plea but the court had dismissed it allowing them to approach the appropriate high court.