BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the September 10, 2015, midnight beating of four Army officers allegedly by police personnel in Vijay Nagar area of Indore.
The incident had reportedly led to vandalisation of the Vijay Nagar police station in Indore by over 100 Army jawans on September 10-11 intervening night, injuring at least five police personnel, including a woman constable.
A division bench of the HC in Indore comprising Justices PK Jaiswal and Virender Singh ordered a CBI probe into the alleged beating of the army officers followed by the lodging of an FIR against those responsible for the incident, petitioner’s counsel Manish Yadav told The New Indian Express.
The HC bench passed the order on a public interest litigation filed in the matter by Indore-based lawyer and social activist Pramod Kumar Dwivedi over the public safety scene in Indore in the wake of the twin incidents on September 10-11 night.
“The HC had reserved the verdict on the PIL on March 23 after hearing arguments of all parties in the matter. The court pronounced the judgment on Thursday, directing MP director general of police (DGP) and State government to refer all documents and case diaries in the matter to the CBI. All documents referred by the defence ministry to the court are also to be transferred to the CBI which should hold investigations and file FIR,” said Yadav.
At around midnight on September 10, 2015, a team from Vijay Nagar police station had allegedly assaulted four army officers, including one lieutenant Ritwik Singh following a war of words over drinking alcohol in public space near BCM Heights building in the upscale Vijay Nagar area of Indore.
Three of the four army officers had sustained multiple fractures in the alleged assault by cops, including then Vijay Nagar police station in-charge Chhatrapal Singh Solanki and city SP (Vijay Nagar) Vipul Srivastava, the petitioners counsel said on Thursday.
Angered over the alleged beating of the four army officers, over 100 army jawans from Mhow (Indore) in plain clothes stormed into the Vijay Nagar police station and vandalised the entire police station on September 10-11 intervening night. The irate army men destroyed property, including computers, vehicles and even CCTV digital video recorder (DVR) to remove any evidence of the violence.
“While three FIRs were lodged by the police against the army personnel for vandalising the police station, no FIR was lodged against the cops who had allegedly assaulted the army officers over consuming alcohol in public space, which sparked the violence at the police station later,” said Yadav.
In the PIL the petitioner had sought a CBI probe into the alleged beating of the army officers by the police personnel.