HC flays CBI for slow probe in Nimgade murder case

Nagpur: Flaying the CBI for its slow pace of investigation into veteran architect Eknath Nimgade’s murder, the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Tuesday directed it to accelerate the probe.
“Since, the CBI is doing investigation, though at a little slower pace, we are of the view that an opportunity should be given to the investigating officer to complete it to bring all culprits to fore,” a division bench comprising justices Vinay Deshpande and Amir Borkar said.
Earlier, CBI investigating officer Jitendra Kachare, personally submitted a progress report in the case, as per HC’s July 12 orders in a sealed envelope. The HC then read the report and directed the registrar (judicial) to keep those in his safe custody. He was also told to not allow any person to read the report’s contents without HC’s approval.
Later, Mugdha Chandurkar pleading for the CBI, prayed for two months for completing the investigations. Even Nimgade’s son Anupam, who has filed the petition for expediting the probe into his father’s murder, expressed satisfaction with the CBI’s progress.
“In that view of the matter, we are granting four weeks’ time to the investigating officer to conduct further probe. He is directed to submit the next report of progress of investigation in sealed envelopes to this court,” the judges said.
The assailants had shot dead the senior citizen when he was returning from a morning walk on September 6, 2016, at Lal Imli Chowk. A case was later registered by the tehsil police for murder and Arms Act.