Deceased NLU-J Student's Father Moves Rajasthan HC For Probe Into Son's Mysterious Death; Notice Issued

Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati also directed the Investigating Officer to appear before the court along with a comprehensive status report on the next date of hearing, that is April 3.

The student, Vikram Nagech was found dead near the rail tracks opposite college campus on August 14, 2017. Previous evening, he had gone to a restaurant near the college campus with his friends, but did not return the same night. His body was found the next morning.

The petitioner, Colonel Jayant Kumar has now approached the court under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, demanding a speedier and efficient investigation into the matter by the CID-CB, Jaipur. Col Kumar is being represented by Advocates Mohit Singhvi and Aishwarya Anand (himself an alumnus of NLU, Jodhpur).

The petition points out that the FIR in the case was registered after an inordinate delay of ten months and that due to the delay, the investigation has not reaped any results. It states, "That it would have been the imperative of the state police by carrying out a proper and systematic investigation, with regard to the death of the deceased but the same was not done and the state police miserably failed to fulfil its duty it owes towards the society and the obligations towards the Petitioner. The laid-back behaviour of the state police can be traced from the fact that the FIR was not filed even after several months from the death of the deceased and no investigation was thus carried out."

The father then asserts that there is material evidence indicating that this was not a suicide but a murder. He, in fact, claims that the University authorities circulated false statements in the media that his son was suffering from depression in order to shirk its responsibility to look into the matter.

He points out several discrepancies and facts to bolster his submissions. For instance, he submits that one of his son's friends had claimed that he had not found anything on the spot near the railway tracks two hours before the discovery of the body, therefore placing a big question mark on the suicide theory.

He further submits that as per an Internal Railway Enquiry Report procured by him, no record of any incident of accident was reported by any member of lobby crew, locomotive drivers or guards of the trains which passed the railway tracks that night. He also submits that the injuries found on his son's body are consistent with him being assaulted and murdered.

Furthermore, Col Kumar points out that his deceased son's batchmates are now in their final semester and hence, the probe should be speeded up as they would all be scattered throughout the country after this, making it tougher to continue the investigation. He, in fact, alleges that the authorities are "well aware of this situation" and are taking advantage of it.

The petitioner brings it to the court's attention that he also submitted representations to the Chief Minister, Governor and other high ranking officials, but to no avail. He, therefore, seeks direction to the CID-CB to conduct a speedy investigation into the case. He also demands that a new Investigating Officer be appointed and be directed to file chargesheet in the matter within 30 days.