Ghaziabad: A special CBI court on Monday rejected the closure report filed by the investigating agency in a case related to the death of a first-year MBBS student at a university in Moradabad in July 2013, saying it was “bereft of any logic, rationale and bona fide approach”.
The court of special judicial magistrate Shivank Singh also issued summons to the then vice-chancellor, Manish Jain, on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence. Chief hostel warden Vipin Jain, the warden of the girl’s hostel, Sushma Bhadoria, and assistant warden Amita Singh were also asked to appear in court. Notices were also issued to fellow students — Varsha Yadav, Krati Bhardwaj, Amritpal Kaur Brar and Veenu Jain — by the court.
On the evening of July 6, 2013, Neeraj Bhadana, who was from Faridabad, was found dead on the ground opposite the verandah of her hostel on the campus of Teerthankar Mahaveer University. The investigation into the case was initially conducted by police and the CID in Bareilly. The case was transferred to the CBI on the state government’s request on July 25, 2013.
Terming it “untraced”, the central investigating agency had filed a closure report on January 1, 2016. Neeraj’s family had subsequently filed a protest petition in the CBI special judicial magistrate’s court.
While issuing the summons on Monday, the judge observed that “people may lie, but circumstances cannot”. “It appears that the present case is the classic example of it. Further, this court is constrained to say that the investigation in the present case is bereft of any logic, rationale and bona fide approach. Accordingly, the closure report filed by the CBI is rejected. The protest petition is hereby allowed,” the judge ruled.
On the basis of documents submitted by the CBI, statements of witnesses recorded by various law enforcement agencies, and after hearing both the sides, the court observed that prima facie, university officials appeared to have participated in destroying evidence in the case. “Had it been the involvement of only students in the alleged murder, then, in that case, the officials (wardens, etc) would not have participated in the destruction of evidence, preparation of false records, and giving false statements. Keeping in view the chain of incidents cited along with the case diary filed by the former investigating officer, it appears that they have done so under the pressure of Manish Jain, the vice-chancellor of the university,” the judge said.
On a complaint by Neeraj’s father Ram Kishore Bhadana, an FIR under IPC Section 302 (murder) had been registered against unknown persons at Pakbara police station. A senior university official said they were yet to get any intimation about the court order. The next hearing is on March 16.