Petitioner sued for status report and transfer of accidental death investigation to independent agency. The bench refused to pass order transferring investigation, noting enquiry was nearing completion, and dismissed the petition as sans merit with no costs.
Petition dismissed with no orders as to costs.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Criminal Writ Petition No. 263 of 2012 1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR
Criminal Writ Petition No. 263 of 2012
Smt. Alka Nitin Apradh |
|---|
[nee More], Adult,Indian inhabitant, |
aged around 41 years, |
gainfully employed as aSchool Teacher in Mumbai, |
and residing at 203, |
Indraprasth CHS, |
Virat Nagar, Virar, |
Mumbai-401 203.....Petitioner. |
Versus |
1.Director General of Police,Mumbai [Maharashtra],Post � Mumbai-01. |
2.Superintendent of Police,Akola [Maharashtra]. |
3.Sr. Inspector of Police,Khadan Police Station,Akola [Maharashtra]. |
4.State of Maharashtra,through Govt. Pleader, |
High Court, Nagpur..... Respondents. |
Criminal Writ Petition No. 263 of 2012 2
*****
Mr. Amit Kumar Bhoumik, Adv., with Mr. H.P. Lingayat,
Adv., for the petitionjer.
Mr. M.K. Pathan, Addl. Public Prosecutor for
respondent.
*****
CORAM : P.V. HARDAS AND A.P. BHANGALE,JJ.
Reserved on: 09th October, 2012.
Pronounced on: 17th October, 2012.
O R D E R[Per P.V. Hardas, J.]:
01.By this petition under Article 226 of the
Constitution of India, the petitioner prays for
issuance of a Writ directing the Superintendent of
Police, Akola, to submit the Status Report in respect
of the First Information No.02/2011 registered under
Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and also
for a transfer of investigation of the said First
Information Report to the State CID or any other
independent investigating agency, from the Khadan
Police Station, Akola.
Criminal Writ Petition No. 263 of 2012 3
02.It may be noted that the petitioner is the
sister of deceased Nitin More, who, according to the
petitioner, had come to Akola from Mumbai on 22nd
January, 2011, accompanied by his wife Ayesha, their
daughter Benisha and Nitin�s sister-in-law Abha, in
order to sell his three-bedroom flat on fourth floor of
Rami Heritage Avenue, Opp : RTO Office, Akola.
According to the petitioner, deceased Nitin More had
purchased the flat in the name of his sister-in-law,
who was a Benami owner. The petitioner further avers
that on 26th January, 2011, at about 11.30 p.m., Nitin
went to answer the call of nature, and was purportedly
electrocuted as he came in contact with a live
immersion water heater rod. Deceased Nitin stumbled
out from the bathroom into the bedroom where he fell
unconscious on the floor. The wife of deceased Nitin
and her younger sister requested the watchman to bring
an auto-rickshaw and took Nitin to Vidarbha Hospital on
Amravati Road, where the doctors pronounced him dead.
The staff of the hospital, it appears, did not inform
the police and the wife of deceased Nitin and her
sister returned back to the flat. The wife of deceased
Criminal Writ Petition No. 263 of 2012 4
thereafter arranged for an old ambulance to carry the
dead body of Nitin from Akola to Mumbai. Initially, the
dead body was taken to Nasik where it was shifted to
another ambulance, and was brought to the Sion
Hospital, Mumbai. There, the Post-mortem was performed
on 28th January, 2011, upon which it was handed over to
the widow of deceased who immediately cremated the
same.
03.Certaincomplaintshadbeenlodged,
particularly by the sister of deceased Nitin, the
petitioner herein, on 3rd February, 2011, expressing
her suspicion over the circumstances in which Nitin met
his death. It further appears that on 11th February,
2011, the Minister for Home directed the police to
register FIR No. 2/2011 under Section 174 of Criminal
Procedure Code and thereafter the enquiry commenced.
The petitioner has also narrated about the documents
which she collected, especially the report of the
Maharashtra State Electricity Board, Akola, on the
occurrence of the incident. The petitioner had filed
Writ Petition No. 1005 of 2012 at Mumbai. On 24th
Criminal Writ Petition No. 263 of 2012 5
April, 2012, the said Writ Petition was ultimately
withdrawn with liberty to file a petition at Nagpur.
04.On issuance of notice to the respondents, the
respondents filed their Affidavit-in-Reply whereinat
the outset, it is stated that an accidental death was
registered under Section 174 of Criminal Procedure Code
on 1st February, 2011. The Post-mortem Report shows
�electrocution� to be the cause of death of Nitin. An
Inquest Panchanama had also been carried out on 27th
January, 2011. The affidavit also gives an account of
the steps taken in respect of registration of the
accidental death case. The affidavit states that
statements of the watchman and others have also been
recorded. The affidavit mentions that the petitioner,
it seems, has also filed a report expressing suspicion
against some persons with an allegation that deceased
Nitin More was killed.
05.Since the enquiry into the incident is being
conducted by the respondents pursuant to the
registration of accidental death case and it is nearing
Criminal Writ Petition No. 263 of 2012 6
completion, we refrain from making any observations on
the merits of the case. The learned APP has submitted
before us that upon completion of the enquiry, a
necessary final report would be submitted. In the event
the final report is adverse to the interest of the
petitioner, the petitioner has adequate remedy of
assailing the same. Since the enquiry is at the
concluding stage, according to us, it would be wholly
inappropriate to transfer the investigation to any
other agency and, therefore, we refrain from passing
such an order.
06.We have heard Mr. Amitkumar Bhoumik, learned
counsel for the petitioner and Mr. M.K. Pathan, learned
APP on behalf of the respondents. Several issues have
been addressed to us by the learned counsel for the
petitioner on the merits of the matter in his endeavour
to point out to us that the death of Nitin More is not
accidental, but a homicidal one. We reiterate that
since the enquiry into the accidental death is nearing
completion, according to us, it would be wholly
inappropriate for us to make any observations on the
Criminal Writ Petition No. 263 of 2012 7
merits of the matter. As pointed out by us above, in
the event the final report affects the petitioner�s
interest, the petitioner has adequate remedy to
question it before the authority to whom the final
report is presented, as well as can raise a challenge
to the acceptance thereof before the appropriate forum.
07.In that light of the matter, we are not
inclined to entertain the present petition. This
petition, therefore, being sans merit, is dismissed
with no orders as to costs.
JUDGE JUDGE
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|hedau|
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the high court ought to transfer the accidental death enquiry to an independent investigating agency before its completion
Whether the high court ought to entertain a writ petition disputing the accidental nature of death while the statutory enquiry is pending
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Smt. Alka Nitin Apradh
Director General of Police, Mumbai
Superintendent of Police, Akola
Sr. Inspector of Police, Khadan Police Station, Akola
State of Maharashtra
P.V. Hardas
A.P. Bhangale
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court