Probe mysterious death of 12 medicos: SC to CBI

New Delhi, January 23

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a CBI probe into “inexplicable and suspicious” deaths of around a dozen students at Shri Ram Murti Smarak Institute of Medical Science (SRMS-IMS), Bareilly, in Uttar Pradesh since 2013.

A Bench led by Justice Aniruddha Bose ordered the CBI probe after senior counsel Siddharth Dave pointed out that two agencies of the state contradicted each other in the matter and hence it needed to be probed by the central agency even as the UP counsel opposed it. Petitioner Anadi Dixit, whose daughter died at the SRMS-IMS under mysterious circumstances on September 6, 2017, alleged that it was made out to be a case of suicide whereas prima facie evidence didn’t leave any doubt that there was foul play and tampering with evidence.

“The SRMS-IMS administration stalled the investigation and delayed the chargesheet by manipulating post-mortem. My daughter’s social media accounts on Snapchat and Facebook were hacked and contents deleted on the day of her death,” Dixit told The Tribune. The petitioner’s daughter was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room in mysterious circumstances barely 10 days after joining the SRMS-IMS. “Total 12 students died mysteriously but only three FIRs were lodged and two chargesheets filed… It has come to light that ragging has been prevalent in the SRMS-IMS and students have been subjected to brutal torture and harassment,” Dixit alleged. Stating he has been running from pillar to post to get justice, Dixit alleged “since the owners of the SRMS-IMS are rich, powerful and politically influential, the police have made no effort for proper probe and are hand in glove with each other”.