Mysterious death of HP power corp GM: Himachal HC hands over probe to CBI

Shimla: Dismayed by the manner in which the special investigation team (SIT) under Shimla SP Sanjeev Gandhi has been probing the mysterious death of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) general manager Vimal Negi, the Himachal Pradesh high court on Friday handed over the investigation of the case to CBI."If the DGP of the state (Atul Verma) has concerns about the fairness of the investigation, then even if it is being carried out by the SIT in right earnest, it shall never instill confidence whatever may be the report of the SIT," held the bench headed by Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, while allowing the petition moved by the deceased officer's wife, Kiran Negi. Noting the "exceptional situation," the court made it clear that no officer from the Himachal Pradesh cadre shall be a part of the SIT probing the case.In the 71-page judgment pronounced on Friday, Justice Goel mentioned that the inquiry report submitted by additional chief secretary (home) Onkar Chand Sharma on May 8 to the state govt has not even seen the light of day. "This inquiry report casts serious aspersions on the conduct of the superior officers of late Vimal Negi and the impropriety exercised by them to allegedly confer favours over a project proponent," the bench noticed.The court pointed out that Shimla SP's affidavit demonstrates that no concrete inquiry on this serious issue has been done by the SIT for almost the last two months, despite the deceased's family terming his disappearance and death suspicious.HC Rips Apart SIT ProbeNegi was missing since March 10 from Shimla, after which his body was recovered from Govind Sagar Lake in Bilaspur on March 18. "It appears as if the SIT is of the view that its job is to investigate whether deceased Vimal Negi ended his life for the simple reason that he was being subjected to improper behaviour by Desh Raj, director (electrical), and Harikesh Meena, IAS, managing director," underlined the bench. The court added that as per the post-mortem report, Negi probably died around March 13 or 14, but why the SIT did not ascertain what transpired from March 10 up to the recovery of the deceased's body "defies any logic." The court also recorded that the SIT is trying to portray that Negi had a history of nervous disorder, but Shimla SP's affidavit is "conspicuously silent" from the perspective of investigation from the angle of the involvement of the accused in pressuring Negi in releasing payments in favour of the project proponent.Question Of IntentionThe court said, "First of all, when secretary power (Rakesh Kanwar) called upon the ACS (home) to hold a fact-finding inquiry and the officer did so, the state ought to have acted upon it dispassionately, rather than becoming a mouthpiece of delinquent officers to propagate the cause of delinquent officers. Once the officer submitted his report, the competent authority could have furnished the inquiry report to the delinquent officers and sought their response thereto.However, rather than doing this, the state chose to sit over the same and ensured that the inquiry report does not see the light of day." The bench also mentioned that ACS (home) referred in detail in his report to the mismanagement and financial bungling in the HPPCL corporate office in Shimla.Lapses In Pekhubela Solar ProjectJustice Goel underlined that ACS (home) Onkar Chand Sharma, in his report, also mentioned that the record revealed there were multiple instances where undue benefit was extended to the contractor of the Rs 220 crore Pekhubela Solar Power Project in Una district - M/s Prozeal Infra Engineering Private Limited. Higher officials, especially director (electrical) Desh Raj, used to exert pressure on different committees for readying proceedings of the meeting as per his desire; and there were serious lapses in the project.Police Not Cooperating With DGPHP DGP Atul Verma told the court that the pen drive having over 4,000 files, which was presumably found on the body of deceased Negi, containing criminal evidence had been tampered with or destroyed by ASI Pankaj Kumar after discovery was serious misconduct on the part of the SIT. The DGP apprised the court about the non-cooperation in the filing of the affidavit by the Shimla SP Sanjeev Gandhi, who directed the authorities not to provide any material to the DGP.Verma submitted that two SIT members even did not show deceased Negi's diaries to him.