SEEMA KEDIA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner, who is a helpless lady and whose husband Kisan Kedia died in a mysterious circumstances, has filed this application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr. P.C. in short) praying for re investigation of Sambalpur Town P.S. Case No. 260 dated 26.7.2000 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I. in short) on the allegation that a clear case of murder is being tried to be hushed off by the investigation agency of the State at the behest of the masters/ employers of the deceased, who are moneyed and influential businessmen of Sambalpur town.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated, the facts giving rise to the present application. as transpire from the record. may be stated thus : On 26.7.2000 at about 6.30 a.m. on Dilip Kumar Vegad. son of Mohanlal Udhaj Vegad of Jhaduapada, Sambalpur town. made an oral information before the Inspector in charge of Sambalpur Town Police Station disclosing the death of his co employee. Kisan Kedia, and the same was reduced to writing and was treated as an F.I.R. (Annexure 2). The informant in the aforesaid F.I.R. disclosed that he had been working as a salesman for the last two years in 'Jay Ambey General Stores' at Gaiety Road, Sambalpur, belonging to Hemant Kumar Patel and Gobardhan Bhai Patel. where the deceased Kisan Kedia was working as salesman along with two others. On 25/26.7.2000 at about 1.30 a.m. Hemant Kumar Patel came to his residence along with the deceased and asked him to come immediately to his shop. The informant and the deceased came with Hemant in is scooter to his shop and on their arrival at the hotel of Magan Bhai Patel, which is adjacent to the shop of Hemant, they found the hotel boy Ainthu Sahu and two new hotel boys were sitting. Then Hemant went and called his elder brother Gobardhan Bhai Patel and after Hemant and Gobardhan arrived, Gobardhan asked about theft from the shop to which the informant and the deceased expressed their ignorance. Then both Hemant and Gobardhan assaulted them and took them along with Ainthu to their adjacent cloth godown and confined the deceased as well as the informant in one room and the hotel boy in another room. Both the brothers left the place to call the other two employees, namely. Khan and Sapan @ Bapi. for confrontation regarding the theft from the shop, after locking the room from outside. Thereafter the informant advised the deceased to go to sleep and he slept in the said room. At about 3.30 a.m.. when Hemant unlocked the room. the informant woke up and on enquiry about the deceased, the informant told Hemant that the deceased was retiring in the upstair room Hemant then along with the informant went to the upstair and found the deceased Kisan Kedia hanging by his neck from the ceiling fan of the room by means of a 'Dupatta' (a long cotton cloth used as wearing apparel). Immediately thereafter Gobardhan came and all of them brought down the deceased unto the floor, removed the 'Dupatta' and gave some first aid to the deceased. Hemant called Dr. Anil Desai, who came and after examining the deceased declared him dead. The aforesaid F.I.R. of Dilip Kumar Vegad was registered as Sambalpur Town P. S. Case No. 260 of 2000 under Sections 342/306/34, I.P.C. against Hemant Kumar Patel and Gobardhan Bhai Patel, whereafter investigation followed. During the course of investigation, on the same day. i.e., 26.7.2000, at about 9.15 a.m. the present petitioner, wife of the deceased, submitted a report to the Inspector in charge of the P.S. at the spot, vide Annexure 1, stating therein .

(3.) IN order to fortify the stand, the learned counsel for the petitioner contends that this case being a sensational case created much hue and cry amongst the general public not only in Sambalpur town but also in the neighbouring Raipur district of Madhya Pradesh, now Chhatisgarh State, which is apparent from the news items published in different newspapers of Sambalpur and Raipur. which are annexed as Annexure 3 series. In this connection some citizens of Sambalpur also made a representation to the Chief Minister of Orissa as per Annexure 4 requesting him to entrust the investigation of the case to the C.B.I. in the larger interest of the general public and to instill confidence in the mind of the general public.