UP girl's death -- PM orders CBI inquiry

UP girl's death -- PM orders CBI inquiry
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi, January 17: The probe into the shocking killing of a college student in a mistaken identity by the Uttar Pradesh police in Meerut has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the state government.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has handed over the case to the CBI at the instance of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, official sourcs said here today.

Teenaged Smita Bhaduri was shot dead last Friday by police in a village in a case of mistaken identity while she along with her friend Mohit Tyagi, both B com (final) students, was returning home in a car.

While a police inspector A K Kaushik, accused in the case, had been arrested yesterday, another constable Surinder Singh, who was absconding, was arrested today, SSP R P Singh said. Efforts are on to nab one more constable in this connection.

Students of various colleges in meerut have demanded the arrest of the police personnel involved in the incident and threatened to launch an agitation.

Meanwhile, three persons,including two assistant postmasters have been sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment by a designated (CBI) court with a fine of Rs 21,000 each for cheating the postal department to the tune of more than Rs one lakh.

Investigations by the CBI had revealed that the accused H S Thakur and Michael Xalco, both assistant postmasters, and a postal assistant had abused their official position while functioning in the savings branch of head post office at Ambikapur in Madhya Pradesh and entered into a criminal conspiracy with one Santosh soni.

These persons cheated the postal department to the tune of more than Rs 1 lakh by way of falsifying the entries in the ledger card and pass book of R D Account-holders and thereafter fraudulently withdrew the amount through forged slips, a CBI release said today.