Ahmedabad, Oct 7 The Gujarat High Court has ordered registration of an FIR and a probe under the supervision of DIG (CID Crime) into the 2023 custodial death of an Indian Trade Service (ITS) officer arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a bribery case.
Justice MK Thakkar ordered that the FIR be registered against an unidentified person after the ITS officer allegedly jumped out of the window of his chamber during post-trap procedure being conducted by the central agency after his arrest in the bribery case.
"Considering the overall factual background of the case and the aforesaid ratio, in the opinion of this court, the ends of justice would be met if a direction is issued for registration of an FIR against an unknown person and the further investigation is entrusted to an independent officer," the HC stated in a recent order.
The single bench ordered that the probe be carried out under the supervision of DIG of Gujarat CID Crime.
The officer, Jawri Mal Bishnoi, was working as Joint Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) at Rajkot at the time of his death.
The petitioner in the case, his wife Suman, told the court that instead of registering an FIR, police conducted an inquiry treating the incident as an "accidental death", which was in violation of directions issued by the Supreme Court in its various rulings.
The ITS officer was accused of demanding illegal gratification of Rs 9,00,000 for performing his official duty in getting the licence required for saving customs duty to the complainant.
On March 24, 2023, the CBI registered an FIR against Bishnoi under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and claimed part of the alleged bribe amount was recovered from the drawer of his office chamber.
The section deals with offences relating to a public servant being bribed.
He was formally arrested in the evening of March 24 and the CBI informed the Additional DGFT regarding the action though his family members were given no official information, the petitioner claimed.
While the CBI conducted searches at his residence, the ITS officer was detained in his chamber under the guard of police constables and preparations were being made to take him to Gandhinagar for questioning.
It was during this time that he jumped out of the window of his chamber the next morning (March 25, 2023). Bishnoi was taken to the Rajkot Civil Hospital, where he was declared dead.
A case of accidental death was registered at a police station in Rajkot, with the city Police Commissioner constituting a team headed by a DCP-level officer to probe the matter.
On the same day, the son of the deceased moved the court seeking registration of a complaint under section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, alleging commission of offences punishable under Sections 302 (murder) and 389 (putting a person in fear of accusation) of the Indian Penal Code in connection with the custodial death of his father.
He alleged that during the raid at their residence, CBI officers threatened to implicate Bishnoi in a false FIR, and this episode was recorded on his mobile phone.
It was further alleged that the ITS officer had been falsely implicated in the bribery case at the instance of a "powerful complainant". Furthermore, considering the physique of the officer, there was no possibility of him jumping from the window, said the petitioner.
Police investigation concluded that no proper care was taken by CBI officers while conducting the post-trap procedure. At the same time, police found no involvement of CBI officers in the commission of suicide.
The court stated in its report that the CBI officers had not caused any harm or injury to Bishnoi and had acted in accordance with rules.
Aggrieved by findings of police probe, the deceased's family approached the high court.
