Special court rejects CBI’s closure report in IAS officer’s death, orders further probe

Lucknow, August 27

A special CBI court on Thursday rejected a plea by the central investigation agency to close a case of the suspicious death of a Karnataka cadre IAS officer in 2017 and directed a further probe into it.

Special Judge Subrat Pathak quashed the CBI closure report into the suspicious death of IAS officer Anurag Tiwari on a protest application filed by late officer’s brother Mayank Tiwari.

ASJ Pathak also asked the CBI to submit its report on the progress in probe on September 30.

The court passed the order after hearing Tiwari’s counsel Nutan Thakur and the CBI counsel.

The CBI had sought closure of the case saying that the allegations about the deceased going to expose a big scam or being pressurised by senior officers or his life being under threat have not been corroborated by any oral, documentary or technical evidence.

Tiwari’s counsel Thakur, however, contended that before the court that the CBI has missed on many vital points and has undertaken the entire investigation with “a preconceived mind to fulfil a predetermined objective of declaring the case to be an accidental death”.

She said there are huge lapses in the investigation ranging from the false interpretations of post mortem report to many important aspects of forensic evidence being ignored.

Accepting Thaur’s argument, ASJ Pathak rejected the closure report of the CBI and asked it to further investigate the case.

Tiwari, a 2007-batch IAS officer, who was staying at the state guest house here on Meerabai Marg was found dead near it on May 17, 2017.

An FIR in the matter was registered by Anurag’s brother Mayank Tiwari at Hazratganj police station on May 25, 2017.

In its closure report submitted to the special court, the central agency, which had taken over the case on June 16, 2017, on the recommendation of the state government, had claimed that Anurag died due to an accidental fall that led to asphyxia (suffocation).

“It was neither suicide nor homicide,” the report said. PTI