HC told to decide plea for CBI probe by Oct 15

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 19

The Supreme Court has asked the Allahabad High Court to decide by October 15 a plea for CBI probe into the mysterious death of a nine-year-old boy at GD Goenka School at Indirapuram in Ghaziabad.

While hearing a petition filed by the parents of deceased student Arman Sehgal, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Monday also asked the high court to decide the petition filed by accused school authorities for quashing of the FIR.

The Bench gave liberty to both the parties to raise all their contentions before the high court.

More than a month after Arman, a Class IV student died at GD Goenka School at Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, his parents Gulshan and Swati Sehgal had on September 14 moved the top court seeking a CBI probe into their son's mysterious death.

Arman had allegedly died after a "fall" in school on August 1. His father Gulshan Sehgal lodged an FIR against the school officials for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and destruction of evidence. Report of a magisterial probe ordered on August 4 was still awaited.

Accusing school management of destroying evidence in the case, the petitioner parents had requested the court to ask the CBI or a special investigation team to take up the matter for a "thorough and fair investigation".

School management, including the chairman, director and principal, have moved the Allahabad High Court seeking quashing of the FIR and the court had granted them interim protection from arrest and directed that no coercive action should be taken against them. 

Accusing the Uttar Pradesh Police of not probing the case properly, Sehgal alleged that CCTV footage of the school was not kept according to the rules and certain videos had been deleted from the record.

Even after 45 days of the incident, he did not know the reason and circumstances under which his son died, Sehgal submitted. He said on August 1, he received a call from the school that his son had fallen in the corridor and was being taken to a hospital. But the hospital said the boy was declared 'brought dead'.