Nainital, Oct 30 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court has transferred to the CBI the investigation into the disappearance of a priest from Haridwar, who had gone missing eight years ago.
Justice Pankaj Purohit, who announced the order, expressed his deep concern over the failure of state investigative agencies to solve the case.
The request for an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation was filed by Mahant Sukhdev Muni.
The court transferred the case to the top criminal investigation agency on Wednesday.
On September 16, 2017, Mahant Mohandas, national spokesperson of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, boarded an express train from Haridwar to Mumbai.
When the train arrived at Bhopal Railway Station, one of his disciples brought food to his seat, but found the priest missing.
There has been no trace of Mohandas, who is also head of the Shri Panchayati Akhara Bada Udasin of Kankhal, since then.
The investigating officer at Kankhal Police Station filed a final report before the judicial magistrate, but it was rejected, and a reinvestigation was ordered.
The IO again filed a progress report, after which the judicial magistrate dismissed the case.
A revision petition was filed before the fourth additional sessions judge of Haridwar, who overturned the judicial magistrate’s decision and sent the case back for investigation.
Despite the court’s request for a progress report, the IO neither filed a report nor resumed the investigation.
After seven years of inaction and no conclusive findings, the petitioner approached the high court.
The petitioner stated that even after eight years, investigating agencies had failed to locate Mohandas.
The court noted that the state has repeatedly transferred the investigation from one officer to another, but with no meaningful result.
It said it was deeply distressed by the agencies’ failure to locate the Mahant and therefore it ordered a CBI investigation.
The court also ordered the state government to hand over all existing investigation records to the central agency.
Following the disappearance of Mahant Mohandas, who drew attention for compiling a list of fake saints, the akhara parishad stated that it had been receiving threats since the list was put together. PTI COR VN VN
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