A division bench comprising Justice Arun Kumar and Justice Manmohan Sarin, while issuing notices to the state government and the station house officer of the Harinagar police station, said the replies should be filed before May 11.

The petition filed by advocate Rekha Palli said Calcutta Police sub-inspector P.C. Sinha had committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan on February 14, 1997, after CBI superintendent H.S. Sandhu and two officials went to jail no 4 where he was lodged.

Sinha was arrested by a CBI team headed by Sandhu on corruption charges, the petition said.

It alleged that Sandhu and the two CBI officials had entered the jail without permission from the court or any other competent authority. They remained in jail number 4 for about 45 minutes, it claimed.

``Rajouri Garden sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Prakash Chand, who went to the jail to conduct an inquiry into the case on February 14, 1997, was threatened by Sandhu,'' it said.

The SDM, when he came to know that the CBI officials were in jail on the day of Sinha's death, asked the area SHO to register a case against them. The Harinagar station house officer, however, did not comply with the SDM's order despite his repeated instructions, the petition claimed.