SC verdict on reinvestigation in Rizwanur case

The High Court had asked the agency to probe the matter after registering a case of murder in connection with the incident.

A bench comprising justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan had on February 22 reserved its verdict after concluding the hearing on cross appeals filed by Ashok Todi, whose daughter Priyanka had married Rizwanur, mother of the deceased Kishwar Jahan and CBI challenging the May 18 order of the High Court.

Rizwanur was found dead near railway tracks in Dumdum area of Kolkata on September 21, 2007, just a month after his marriage to Priyanka on August 18, 2007.

Ashok Todi, owner of the Rs. 200-crore Lux Cozi hosiery brand, his brother Pradip and brother in-law Anil Sarogi are accused in the case along with senior IPS officers then serving in the Kolkata Police.

Challenging the High Court order, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, appearing for CBI, had submitted a fresh probe was not required in the case as the agency had earlier conducted the detailed probe and arrived at the conclusion that an offence was made out for abatement of suicide against Ashok Todi and his relatives.

Todi pleaded he was ready to face the trial on the basis of findings of CBI and there was no need to conduct a fresh investigation in the three-and-half-year-old murder case.

A division bench of the High Court had ordered fresh investigation after setting aside the CBI investigation earlier ordered by a single bench and directed the agency to complete the probe within four months.

CBI had in its report concluded that Rizwanur?s death was a case of suicide and recommended initiation of an abatement to suicide case under Section 306 of the IPC.

The GRP(government railway police) was first entrusted with the investigations, following which the state government ordered a CID probe.

After this, the state instituted a judicial probe by a retired high court judge, which was withdrawn after the CBI probe was ordered by the Calcutta High Court on October 16, 2007.