LUCKNOW: The second closure report of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over the mysterious death of Karnataka cadre IAS officer Anurag Tiwari was rejected by a special judicial magistrate on Monday.
The 2007-batch IAS officer was found dead mysteriously by the roadside in front of the government guest house in which he had stayed in Lucknow five years ago.
Ruling out any foul play, the CBI closure report, filed in January 2021, had claimed that the IAS officer's death was accidentally caused by asphyxia as a result of positional smothering. The court posted the matter for the next hearing on October 14.
The court, in its elaborate order, stated: “Asphyxia due to smothering is caused by blocking air entry into the lungs by simultaneous closure of nose and mouth. The viscera report of the deceased shows that there was no alcohol that could lead to intoxication and the nicotine content was 319ng/L, which is not enough to cause a person to lose balance in his body.
Even the stomach content of the deceased, as per the post-mortem report, showed 520 ml of undigested food. However, a person suffering from acute diarrhoea consuming more than 520 ml of food and thereafter going for a walk at 4 am and losing balance and lying in a position that causes smothering and ultimately his death seems unlikely,” the court said while rejecting the CBI closure report.
The IAS officer hailed from Bahraich in UP. He was posted as civil and supplies commissioner in Karnataka and had come to Lucknow, after returning from a mid-career training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie, when he was found dead in mysterious circumstances outside the State Guest House on Mirabai Marg on May 17, 2017.
The city police conducted the probe and then the case was handed over to the CBI within a month.
After its probe, the CBI submitted its first closure report on February 19, 2019, but the court rejected the report and asked the agency to re-investigate the case. The second closure report was filed on January 28, 2021. The court rejected it again on Monday.