HC refuses CBI probe into cable operator’s suicide

Saurabh Malik

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 11

Two months after cable operator Jaswinder Singh Jassi allegedly consumed poison, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to hand over the investigation into the case to the CBI.

“No reason is made out for entrustment of the investigation to the CBI or any other investigating agency at this stage,” Justice Surinder Gupta ruled while dismissing a petition filed by Gurdev Singh Bhullar.

A witness in the cable operator suicide case, Bhullar was seeking directions for entrusting the investigation of the case, registered on March 28 at Civil Lines Police Station in Amritsar City, to the CBI.

Bhullar had claimed that he was present when the victim allegedly consumed poison during the meeting of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). His counsel told the court that Jassi aired his grievance before the TDSAT chairperson and other Judges present there before allegedly consuming a poisonous substance in their presence. Jassi was taken to the hospital where he died three days later.

A special investigating team headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Harjit Singh Brar was constituted to investigate the case. But statements were being recorded of witnesses, who were supporters of the accused.

He added the accused were “influential persons having criminal background”; and one of the main accused was facing trial in Siti Cable sex scandal case before the Patiala CBI court, in which the victim was one of the witnesses.

Taking up the matter, Justice Gupta asserted: “The petitioner has disclosed his status as a witness of the occurrence…. The counsel for the petitioner has candidly admitted that the petitioner is not related to the deceased in any manner…. The family members of deceased have not raised any grievance against the investigation conducted by SIT.”