Shimla:The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to shift the state police chief and the Kangra superintendent of police so that they do not influence the probe in a businessman's complaint about threat to his life. In its order, the court also said it was intervening due to "exceptional circumstances" in the matter, "more particularly when the respondent Home Secretary had chosen to turn a blind eye" to material presented in the case.
In his complaint filed on October 28, Palampur-based businessman Nishant Sharma alleged threat to him, his family and property from his business partners. He had also questioned the conduct of Director General of Police Sanjay Kundu, alleging the officer made phone calls to him, and asked him to come to Shimla.
"Shift them (the DGP and the Kangra police chief) to other posts where they would not have any opportunity to influence the investigation in the case," said a division bench of Chief Justice M S Ramachandra Rao and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua. "In the light of the material available to us in this case till date, we are satisfied that exceptional circumstances do exist for intervening in the matter, more particularly when the respondent Home Secretary had chosen to turn a blind eye to the said material for reasons best known to it," the order said.
The HC had on November 10 taken suo moto cognisance of another complaint filed by Sharma with the Shimla superintendent of police, two days after the DGP filed a defamation case against the businessman. The businessman had alleged in the October 28 complaint that he was attacked by his business partners in Gurugram on August 25, and that two influential persons from Himachal Pradesh, including a former IPS officer, were also involved. He said that after the attack he came to Palampur in Kangra district, but the DGP called him up from his official number and "forced me to come to Shimla".
"On the same day two criminals stop me at Mcleodganj in Dharamshala and threaten to harm my two-and-half-year old kid and wife," the businessman has alleged. "I drove to the house of the Superintendent of Police, Kangra (Shalini Agnihotri) at Dharamshala and narrated the plight to her and gave her my complaint but nothing has been done so far," he claimed in his complaint.
"I demand an independent and unbiased investigation and lodging of an FIR against everyone, including the DGP. This is the only way you would be able to apprehend this whole gang of extortionists," he had said, marking the complaint to others including the chief justice of the high court. The DGP filed a defamation case against the businessman on November 4, accusing him of harming his reputation and attempting to malign his image.
The Court observed that the SP, Kangra, showed very little progress in the investigation after having deliberately delayed the registration of FIR till November 16, despite having received a complaint on October 28 through an email from the complainant. Earlier, on November 10, the HC issued a notice to SPs of Shimla and Kangra to file a status report by November 16. It was only then that the Mcleodganj Police Station at Dharamshala filed an FIR against unknown persons on Sharma's complaint.
The court observed that the material collected by the Shimla superintendent of police prima facie indicates that the DGP had been in touch with an alleged business partner of the complainant. The DGP had allegedly repeatedly attempted to contact the complainant on October 27 (fifteen missed calls) and had put the complainant under surveillance and filed FIR against the complainant, it said.
The Court observed that the Home secretary had ample opportunity to study the status reports filed the SPs of Kangra and Shimla and take a call on continuance of the present Director General of Police in the highest post but he did not move even his "little finger in the matter". During the hearing on December 21, the Advocate General said the investigation was being done fairly and uninfluenced by the office of the DGP but Amicus Curiae Neeraj Gupta insisted that the investigation cannot remain fair in the light of the material collected during investigation by Shimla SP.
In his defamation complaint, DGP Sanjay Kundu said Sharma had on October 29 shot a off letter on his official email, marking copies to other officials, in which he made false allegations with intentions to harm his reputation and tarnish his image. A case under sections 211 (false charge of offence made with intent to injure), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 499 (defamation) and 500 of the IPC was registered against the businessman.
