Dharwad: The Gadag Superintendent of Police faced the wrath of the High Court during a hearing on a habeas corpus on Tuesday. The court orally asked explanation from the SP on how the police can file a charge sheet on the accused before completing the investigation.
It also questioned the department for not conducting narco-analysis on the accused who was arrested two months ago, but could not extract any information on the missing case of a girl student. The court also remarked whether the police would have taken similar steps if any of their relative had gone missing.
“A girl student has gone missing since last five months and no information is available on her present condition. The police too could not find out if she is alive. Being the head of the police department in the district, are you aware of the case? If the police is unable to trace the girl, the case would be handed over to the CBI,” the court said to the SP.
It also served an ultimatum to the SP to trace the girl before October 28 and submit the investigation progress details to the court, failing which, the government will be directed to hand over the case to the CBI, said the High Court divisional bench headed by Justice Ashok Hinchigeri and P?S?Dineshkumar.
SP?Santosh Babu who responded to the questions of divisional bench assured to sincerely look into the case. It is a failure of the investigation officer and a new IO will be appointed soon he said. He appealed to the court to give two weeks’ time to get information on the missing girl and submit a detailed investigation report to the court.
Dissatisfied with the reply of the SP, the court directed him to file a petition to the lower court seeking to hand over the accused to the police custody and interrogate. Later, it adjourned the next hearing to Friday.
The case
On?May 17, 2016, a girl from Naregal village in Gadag district had not returned home after college hours. Her family members after a futile quest for her had filed a missing complaint on May 24 suspecting the involvement of her classmate Vinay Hanji.
Unfortunately, the police could not trace the girl and the upset parents filed a habeas corpus. Advocates Anand Kolli and D?V?Pattar represented the petitioner.
