BJP demands CBI inquiry into the death of Rajnish Sharma

Casting doubts over the way the state police is handling the case, BJP today demanded a CBI probe into the circumstances that led to the alleged custodial death of a youth at a police station in Srinagar recently after he married a girl from another community in the valley.

"An inquiry by the CBI is required because a communal approach was adopted by Kashmir police in handling the case leading to Rajnish Sharma's death", BJP national secretary and MP Balbir Punj told reporters here.

Rejecting the magisterial inquiry being conducted into this case, he said only a CBI probe could bring out the truth and unmask those responsible for Sharma's death.

Claiming that Sharma's post-mortem had revealed that he was tortured in custody as he was given electric shocks and his nails were removed, the BJP leader said that the autopsy report makes it all the more important that the culprits are brought to book and the family of the deceased gets justice.

Not only Sharma but his close relatives were also harrassed by the police constantly after he married a Kashmiri Muslim girl, Punj, who is also co-convenor of Civil Society Forum (CSF), said.

"Both Sharma and the girl were adults at the time of their wedding and the law too allows you to marry the person of your choice if you are an adult", he said.

Demanding immediate dismissal of all the policemen, who dealt with the case in Srinagar, he said that they along with the parents of Anchal Sharma (Amina Yousuf), wife of the deceased, should be booked for murder.