The Supreme Court this week stayed a Rajasthan High Court order transferring the probe in two cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the state BJP government assured it of “an unbiased and impartial investigation” by the police. The two cases were registered on the complaints of a mine operator, with one naming Ramlal Jat, a former minister in the erstwhile Congress government.
Issuing notice on the Rajasthan government’s plea, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed in its February 24 order that “in the meantime, the effect and operation of the impugned order(s) shall remain stayed”.
The complainant, Parmeshwar Ramlal Joshi, had approached the high court seeking the transfer of two FIRs registered at Kareda police station in Bhilwara district to an independent agency like the CBI. While one case named Jat, among others, the other named Anand Srivastava, whose brother is a senior IPS officer in Rajasthan. One of the cases pertains to the alleged forgery of a rent agreement and the other relates to the alleged theft of mining equipment between 2018 and January 2021.
The high court order said it “has carefully considered the facts and circumstances of the case” and that Joshi “has made serious allegations of malafide investigation and collusion between the accused persons and the police”.
“The petitioner has also submitted various facts and circumstances to support his allegations. The conduct of the police in delaying the registration of FIRs and the lack of progress in the investigation raises serious concerns about the fairness and impartiality of the investigation. The allegations of fabrication of evidence are also grave,” the high court said.
The high court added that the core issue before it was the complainant’s “serious apprehension” that the state police would not conduct “fair and impartial investigation due to the influence wielded by the accused”.
“The high-ranking position of a close relative of the accused, coupled with the fact that any investigating officer assigned to this case would be a subordinate of the accused’s brother, presents a matter of grave concern before this court. The multiple instances cited by the victim, demonstrating the accused’s influence over the investigative process, cannot be disregarded,” the court said.
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The judge who heard the matter in the high court said, “I was deeply astounded to learn that the investigating officer, the circle officer of Asind, who was keeping the file with him since last six months is unaware of the fact that the additional director general of police of the state of Rajasthan is the brother of the accused.”
The high court said though it “is not considering the facts presented by the petitioner to be true absolutely but the chain of events as presented by him…are the reasons which prompted this court to minutely go through the matter and to ponder over the relief sought by the petitioner and at the same time to discuss the principles of law applicable in the case in hand”.
It said, “the involvement of high-ranking officials and the repeated transfer of the investigation between various police officers, without meaningful progress, raises serious concerns about bias and lack of accountability. Given the political influence and apparent attempts to manipulate the investigation, only an independent and credible agency like the CBI can ensure a fair, unbiased, and transparent inquiry. This court also feels that the message in society should not go wrong that the law bows down or succumbs before power, influence, or the mighty, and that justice remains undone.”
Appealing against the high court order, the state told the Supreme Court that “the disputes between the partners concerns the partnership in the mines, involving Joshi and the partners who have been inducted over time that seems to have been misrepresented as a criminal matter by” Joshi.
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The state submitted that the high court “has considered oral facts presented by” Joshi “who was appearing party in person, while passing the order…The said facts as stated by” Joshi “were factually wrong and however, have been taken on record on the face value”.
It added that “each aspect of the matter shall be investigated by the state police senior level officer including or headed by DGP if required on the basis of actual evidence and considering all material facts”.
The state said that the high court order directing the transfer of investigation to CBI “has been passed without appreciating that transfer of an investigation to the CBI is not a matter of routine. It is an ‘extraordinary power’ to be used ‘sparingly’ and ‘in exceptional circumstances’.”
On the allegations of the accused’s links to an IPS officer, the state said the officer “is not even in the stream of any investigations system of the state. The said officer is posted as ADG RAC which looks after only deployment of armed forces in the state as and when needed. The said posting is even prior to registration of the FIR in question. There are total 21 ADGs in state and each one have different job assignments. It is submitted that even if the state police finds even remote involvement of any connection of any state police officer in any manner the same shall be dealt in accordance with law.”
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The state added that it is “not before” the Supreme Court “against any Investigation by CBI in principle but the question whether in a case like the present one at hand and in the way the impugned orders has been passed directing the CBI investigation are sustainable in the eyes of law. The state police agency is competent and would submit its report in the pending investigation as per the evidence collected during the investigation and assures this court of an unbiased and impartial investigation.”