Twitter
Advertisement

Bombay high court smells cover-up in Nitesh Rane firing case

The Bombay high court on Thursday raised apprehensions about a possible cover-up of the case involving Nitesh Rane, son of industries minister Narayan Rane.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

The Bombay high court on Thursday raised apprehensions about a possible cover-up of the case involving Nitesh Rane, son of industries minister Narayan Rane.  

Raising serious questions on the investigations conducted by Khar police station into an alleged case of firing by Nitesh and the manner in which the medical case of Chintu Sheikh, the victim, was handled by Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, the court has transferred the investigations to the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI).  

The division bench of justice AM Khanwilkar and justice AR Joshi, said: “There are inexplicable circumstances borne out the record which create doubts about the manner in which the investigation had taken off soon after the incident. It has become necessary to provide credibility and instil confidence in the investigation of this case, which involves son of a sitting cabinet minister of the state and brother of a member of parliament.” 

While transferring the case, the bench came down heavily on the way the investigations were conducted by the police. Calling the police investigations doubtful it said in its order: “If the CBI forms a different opinion about the case, then action should be taken against all the officers concerned of Khar police station.” 

Before coming to a conclusion that investigations had been tampered with, the court perused all the case-related documents and even called for details of phone records of certain persons associated with the case. Their conclusion is primarily based on the case diary and the police station diary.   

Minister influenced probe? 
Hinting that Narayan Rane might have influenced the investigations, which the police have denied till now,  the court said, “It is significant to note that the summary of telephonic call details reveals that calls were made from the residence of the Ranes (landline) on the mobile of senior police inspector of Khar police at around 21.43.07 hours on 23 September, 2010, and from the mobile of personal assistant of Narayan Rane on the mobile of senior inspector of Khar Road police station at around 23.23.09 hours followed by another call from the colleague of Narayan Rane, Siddiqui, MLA, to the officer around 23.54.16 hours. 

Significantly, the spot panchnama was conducted by Khar police station during that period. Only after the evidence must have been destroyed, Khar police station proceeded to record spot panchnama.”

Hospital’s role
The high court also rapped Hiranandani Hospital where Sheikh was admitted and received treatment. “It is also possible that the medical records of Hiranandani Hospital were prepared under the influence of persons interested in the outcome thereof. There was telephonic interaction between the members of the group of accused inter se and also with the members of the group of Hiranandani Hospital and between the doctors and Hiranandani,” the court said. 

The bench, while weighing the medical report of the JJ Hospital which had done a second examination on Sheikh to find out if he sustained any bullet injuries, said, “If the foundation of the case itself has been modulated, the subsequent medical report would obviously be in line with the same theory.”

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement