Shoddy probe leaves Ggn police red-faced

GURUGRAM: On Wednesday morning, it all came tumbling over. The phrase seems to be apt for Gurugram Police, ever since it took charge of the Pradyuman Thakur murder case.

At 10 pm, on September 8, the district police had arrested 42-year-old bus conductor Ashok Kumar for murdering the seven-year-old in the washroom of Ryan International School in Bhondsi, Gurugram.

The then acting commissioner DCP Simardeep Singh had said that the accused tried to molest the child, failing which he slit the boy's throat. Relentless pressure, however, resulted in Gurugram Police Commissioner Sandeep Khirwar announcing the day after that a charge-sheet in the case will be filed within a week.

A day before the ending of the deadline, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the nation's premier investigating agency, after the Pradyuman's parents voiced their displeasure over the Gurugram police's investigative shortcomings.

Now, two months after the horrific case, Mohit Verma, the lawyer of Ashok Kumar, has affirmed that a defamation case will be filed against Haryana police for shoddy investigation.

For the district police, which recently suspended one of its official over a fake passport case, the defamation suit is been another blow to its credibility.

Questions now are being raised as to why police did not stop vital evidences, like blood samples, from being cleaned up from the crime scene.

There are also rumours that senior level police officials from Gurugram deliberately tried to suppress vital evidences in the case, which would have nailed the accused in the beginning itself.

The legal counsel for Pradyuman's parents, on Wednesday, asserted that in the days to come, more startling revelations could come to the fore and more people may be penalised.

Facing criticism after a sudden turnaround of the case, senior law enforcement officials in Gurugram, however, maintained that the CBI should be allowed to file the charge-sheet before judgement is passed.

"The case is now being handled by CBI. Before judgement is passed of the workings of the state police, I would urge citizens to exercise restraint and wait for the CBI to file its charge-sheet," said DGP B S Sandhu, the Haryana police chief.