Thapar varsity murder: SC stays HC order

A week after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Punjab Police to register a case of murder to probe the mysterious death of a student of Thapar University, the Supreme Court on March 7 stayed the operation of the High Court order.

Also, a notice was issued to Gurbax Singh Bains, a local lawyer who had moved the High Court alleging that his son was "murdered" on September 28, 2010, near Rajpura. Bains was asked to respond to the special leave petition (SLP) filed in the apex court.

Holding the investigation done by the Punjab Police into the mysterious death as "arbitrary, illegal" and "mala fide", the High Court had directed Punjab Police to register a case of murder.

While initial "investigation" done by Rajpura police had claimed that Gagandeep, 21, had died in an accident, a subsequent inquiry conducted by Deputy Inspector General Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh had said that Gagandeep was murdered. Despite the scathing report, the Punjab Police had refused to accept it and constituted a SIT which dismissed it to be a case of accident.

Shocked at the tactics adopted by the Punjab Police to "nullify the findings" of its own officer "without any legal basis", the High Court had ordered a probe — to be completed in three months — to find out the "errant" police officers who shielded murderers and know why the DIG's report (dated December 27, 2011) was not accepted by Punjab.

The new probe was conducted under the supervision of the Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police. The officers found guilty in the new probe were ordered to pay a fine of Rs 50,000. The penalty was to be paid as compensation to Gurbax Singh Bains, the father.

Aggrieved against registration of a case of rash and negligent driving, Bains had petitioned the High Court demanding a CBI probe. He had alleged that personal enmity between his son and the then SDM's son was the motive behind the "murder".

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