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Meham case goes to CBI
Haryana lax in action on Saikia report: HC
Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 6
Coming down heavily on Haryana Government functionaries for their laxity to take action on the report submitted by Saikia Commission of Inquiry which probed the circumstances leading to the death of Amir Singh, an Independent candidate for the Meham Assembly byelections in 1990, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in a significant judgement, has entrusted the entire case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Disposing of the petition filed by former minister Anand Singh Dangi, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice Nirmal Singh directed that the premier investigation agency “shall now complete the investigation in FIR No 130 registered at Meham police station in Rohtak district on May 17, 1990”.

The Bench also directed that the material collected by the special investigation team headed by Mr V.N. Rai and the team headed by Mr P.K. Aggarwal shall be handed over to CBI’s Superintendent of Police. It further directed the CBI to submit its report within six months of receiving the order’s copy.

The Judges asserted: “We do not have the slightest hesitation in recording a finding that the entire state machinery has been extremely lax in taking action on the report of the commission. Whether or not Amir Singh was murdered and who committed his murder are issues on which the state government should have directed its pointed attention. However, instead of doing their duty in the right earnest, the then Home Secretary and the then Director-General of Police acted like ministerial employees and tossed the files from one office to another”.

In their detailed order, the Judges observed: “The laxity has led to a situation in which most of the officers involved in the firing incident on May 17, 1990, have retired; one of them has even died”.

“The manner in which the officers concerned conducted themselves leave no doubt that all of them had shirked from their duty to act as responsible public servants.... The manner in which the case has been dealt with also leaves no doubt that the state government functionaries have shown scant respect for a report submitted by a commission and the resolution passed by Parliament”, the Bench stated.

Speaking for the Bench, Mr Justice Nirmal Singh pointed out: “The state has not given any explanation why the then DGP had changed the investigation team headed by Mr V.N. Rai and why the successive officers had committed dereliction in the performance of their duty of completing the investigation”.

The Judge concluded: “The only course open for this court is now to order a fresh investigation into the matter by an agency other than the state police”. It may be recalled that FIR No 130 along with two other cases were registered by the police in relation to Amir Singh’s death and the violence at Dangi’s house.