For ‘fair probe’, HP High Court orders shifting of DGP, Kangra SP

Vijay Arora

Legal Correspondent

Shimla, December 26

In a significant development, the Himachal Pradesh High Court today directed the state Secretary of Home to take steps at the earliest to shift police chief DGP Sanjay Kundu and Kangra SP Shalini Agnihotri to other posts to ensure “they didn’t have an opportunity to influence investigation” in the case pertaining to the alleged harassment of Palampur businessman Nishant Sharma.

Govt turned blind eye

In the case, exceptional circumstances do exist for our intervention, more particularly when the Secretary (Home) chose to turn a blind eye for reasons best known to him. Division Bench led by Himachal HC CJ

The high court said it was “constrained to take the matter into its hands to ensure fair investigation in the FIR (lodged by Nishant) after the authorities concerned failed to act”. In its 17-page order, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua observed that the Secretary (Home) had “ample opportunity to study the status reports filed by Kangra and Shimla SPs and take a call on the DGP’s continuance in the post”.

The Bench observed that “in the light of material available to it in the case to date, it was satisfied that exceptional circumstances did exist for its intervention, more particularly when the Secretary (Home) chose to turn a blind eye for reasons best known to him”. “In the interest of justice and also keeping in mind the principle that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done, it is desirable that the Himachal DGP and Kangra SP must be shifted out to ensure fair investigation in the FIRs lodged in the case,” the order read.

Nishant had, in an email complaint to the high court, alleged that he and his family feared for their lives as he was “attacked in Gurugram and in McLeodganj”. He sought the high court’s intervention on the grounds that he “needed protection from powerful people as he was living in constant fear of being killed”.

The high court observed that “the Kangra SP failed to explain why an FIR was not lodged and investigation done on a complaint made on October 28”. “The FIR was registered belatedly on November 16 after the high court entertained the criminal writ petition on November 10,” it said.

It observed that “the material collected by the Shimla SP indicated prima facie that the DGP had been in touch with a lawyer, the alleged business partner of the complainant, and had repeatedly attempted to contact the complainant on October 27 (15 missed calls)”. “It is alleged by the complainant that after he spoke to the DGP on October 27 and refused to come to Shimla to meet him, the McLeodganj incident took place. Also, the DGP had put the complainant under surveillance and had filed an FIR on November 4 against him,” the high court said.

While passing the order, the high court, however, made it clear that it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the claims of the parties as the investigation was still incomplete.

In his complaint, Nishant had alleged threat to his life from “two extremely rich and well-connected persons, a former IPS officer and the lawyer, as the complainant and his father had not yielded to their pressure”. He contended that his family ran a hotel in Palampur, and that a relative of one of the two above mentioned persons had invested in his company’s small-scale projects in and around Palampur.

He also alleged that the lawyer was facing financial difficulties, which led him to “use undue influence by way of force and intimidation through the former IPS officer for extorting money from the complainant and his father”. He alleged he was living in constant fear as the “highest officer of the police department in Himachal was with the people who wanted him killed”.

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