Supreme Court on Wednesday, has pulled up Rajasthan government and police for the delay in the investigation into the death of a third-year National Law University (NLU) student Vikrant Nagaich, in Jodhpur, in August 2017. Parents of the victim have also joined the hearing by video conferencing.
A bench headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman also comprising of Justice Navin Sinha and Justice BR Gavai gave a final ultimatum to the state government to complete the probe and said, “the investigations must be completed in two months and the final report will be submitted in this court.”
The top court bench has expressed the disappointment towards the pace of investigation and also questioned the sluggishness after going through the report submitted by Rajasthan police.
“When are you going to complete it? It is going on and on and on. There has to be some end to it,” the bench questioned senior advocate Manish Singhvi.
Singhvi appearing for the Rajasthan government, tried to convince SC bench that after CB-CID, a special investigation team is also investigating the matter now. He further added, “The deceased’s phone was completely destroyed. We have now written to Google and Facebook for some information but they have not replied. This is something not in our control.”
To which the bench replied that state police cannot just keep investigating the matter without coming to a conclusion. The court also accepted the submission made by advocate Astha Sharma to put a clock on the probe and alloted two months’ time to the Rajasthan government to complete it.
Parents of the victim Vikrant Nagaich had moved SC claiming that local police has failed to carry the investigation in the right earnest and sought top court directions to CBI for taking up the charge to solve the mystery of the unnatural death of their son.
They had mentioned in the plea that after 10 months delay in June 2018, an FIR was registered. The plea alleges, “the manner in which probe has been conducted leads to an inescapable reasonable apprehension that it is a result of probable collusion to shield some high, mighty and influential persons.”
“Despite lapse of almost three years, no charge-sheet has been filed. The investigation is at a stand-still, with no effort made to apprehend the offenders,” stated the plea.
