The Himachal Pradesh High Court has adjourned till May 12 the petition filed by S S Kalmotia,seeking a CBI probe into the alleged suicide by his daughter Ritu Kalmotia. When the matter came up for hearing before the division bench of Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice R B Mishra on Wednesday,Kalmotias counsel Pankaj Bhardwaj submitted that the reply given by the government and the police was received by him only on the night of April 27. As a result,the petitioners did not get much time to thoroughly study it and file a counter reply. Bhardwaj said prima facie the governments reply seemed to have missed out on a lot of facts that need to be put straight and highlighted in the right perspective. The court decided to give time to the petitioners to file a counter reply and listed the matter for hearing after two weeks. Kalmotia had sought a CBI probe into his daughters alleged suicide and the role of senior IPS officer Pradeep Kumar Sarpal in the alleged destruction of evidence by going to Ritus house,where her body was found hanging,in his unofficial capacity. Ritus family has refused to cooperate with the CID inquiry ordered by the state government,saying they do not trust the local police due to the alleged involvement of the senior IPS officer. According to the family,that Ritu and Sarpals son were in a relationship and their marriage proposal was not acceptable to the Sarpals,which was apparently why Ritu ended her life.
