Shimla, Sep 16 (PTI) The CBI court on Tuesday sent suspended Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Pankaj Sharma to 10-day judicial custody till September 26.
Sharma has been accused of tampering with evidence in the mysterious death of former general manager and chief engineer of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) Vimal Negi, who had gone missing on March 10 and was found dead on March 18 in the Shahtalai area in Gobind Sagar in Bilaspur district. Sharma was the first person to recover the pen drive and other documents of Negi.
The CBI had arrested Sharma on Sunday from his residence in Bilaspur’s Ghumarwin for allegedly tampering with a pen drive that served as crucial evidence in Negi’s mysterious death.
The CBI team presented Sharma in the court on Tuesday and sought his custodial interrogation. However, the court sent him to judicial custody.
The court also rejected Sharma’s bail plea that was filed in the court by his counsel, saying the CBI had mentioned during a hearing in the Himachal Pradesh High Court that the agency did not require Sharma in the case.
The court has set September 26 as the next hearing of the case, which will be held via video conferencing.
According to the post-mortem report, Negi had died about five days before his body was recovered.
His wife Kiran Negi had alleged that he was tortured by the superior officers for the past six months and they also misbehaved with him.
While the case was being investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Himachal Pradesh Police, Kiran moved the high court for a CBI probe. The court accepted the plea and transferred the case to the agency on May 23.
The CBI registered a case of abetment to suicide under sections 108 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in Negi’s case and questioned a large number of persons. Statements of Negi’s family members were also taken by the CBI.
Sources have said that the CBI had questioned Sharma several times regarding the allegations that some important data was deleted from the pen drive, which was allegedly formatted by him.
Sharma’s arrest on Sunday is very significant in the case as it could expose the persons who allegedly asked him to tamper with crucial evidence. He had allegedly kept the pen drive with him, the sources said. PTI COR KSS KSS
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