* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(CRL) 1014/2011
% Reserved on: 1st November, 2011
Decided on: 4th November, 2011
SURAJ MODI ..... Petitionr
Through: Mr. Siddharth Aggarwal and Ms. Stuti
Gujral, Advocates.
versus
COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, DELHI ..... Respondent
Through: Mr. Dayan Krishnan, Additional
Standing Counsel with Mr. Nikhil A.
Menon, Advocate.
Coram:
HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MUKTA GUPTA
1. Whether the Reporters of local papers may Not Necessary
be allowed to see the judgment?
2. To be referred to Reporter or not? Yes
3. Whether the judgment should be reported Yes
in the Digest?
MUKTA GUPTA, J.
1. By this petition the Petitioner inter alia seeks transfer of investigation
relating to FIR No. 114/2011 under Section 302 IPC registered at PS Vasant
Kunj to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
W.P. (Crl.) No. 1014/2011 Page 1 of 7
2. Learned counsel for the Petitioner contends that the Petitioner is an
unfortunate father of Shobhit Modi who died a homicidal death at about 9.30
P.M. near C-5, Gali No. 2, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. The Petitioner had
specifically named the family of one Ms. Shivangi who was close to her son.
The Petitioner suspects R.N. Bhadwar, father of Shivangi to possibly have a
hand in his son’s death. The Petitioner has specific reasons for naming them
as his son and Shivangi had relations which were not approved by R.N.
Bhadwar. In this context on or around 17th February, 2011 R.N. Bhadwar had
visited the Petitioner’s home and specifically expressed his disapproval of
Shobhit’s relationship with Shivangi. He had also arranged goons to
misbehave with Shobhit in October, 2010. Despite R.N. Bhadwar having
threatened Shobhit to maintain distance from Shivangi, they remained in
touch with each other resulting in the death of the Petitioner’s son. The
investigations have fortified and substantiated the claim of the Petitioner that
the Petitioner’s son was threatened in his college by goons at the instance of
R.N. Bhadwar however, still no action is taken. The claim of the police that it
has investigated and interrogated all the family members of Ms. Shivangi at
length but still they do not find any material to implicate them is wholly
incorrect. A perusal of the several text messages on deceased’s phone also
W.P. (Crl.) No. 1014/2011 Page 2 of 7
independently indicate the strained and violent relationship between Shivangi
and her father and brother.
3. According to the Petitioner the Delhi Police have been resistant to look
at the complicity of the Badhwar family in this crime from the very beginning
of this investigation on flimsy grounds. The Respondents have investigated
into all angles like road rage, random crime or for robbery etc. which have
also resulted in futility. The police did not even seize the laptop and mobile
phone of the deceased though they took it and returned back the same, without
preparing any seizure memo. No scientific investigation has been conducted
of the internet forums like email, messaging, phoning applications including
Facebook, Gmail, Skype, Whatsapp have neither been analyzed nor asked to
be frozen so that no interference with the data takes place. On 27 th May, 2011
the Petitioner was called to meet one Deepak Malik/Deepak Singh who had
allegedly confessed to have robbed and murdered Shobhit. Though the police
claimed that they had recovered bloodstained clothes from Malik, and a team
of officers was sent to Kanpur to seize the weapon of offence however, the
same alsodid not yield results. In fact on further investigation it was revealed
that the said Malik/Singh was not even in the city on the date when the
Petitioner’s son was murdered. Thus the investigation be transferred to CBI
W.P. (Crl.) No. 1014/2011 Page 3 of 7
for a fair and independent probe so that culprits of the Petitioner’s son are
prosecuted as per law.
4. Learned Additional Standing Counsel for the State on the other hand
contends that every possible endeavour has been made to ensure a proper,
thorough and detailed investigation in respect of the abovementioned FIR.
The guard who had first seen the Petitioner’s son has been thoroughly
examined. He has neither seen any scuffle nor anybody with him. The
examination of the body revealed two stab injuries on the chest and two on the
back of the body. There were also abrasions in the right hand and both the
knees. The t-shirt was also torn. The investigation is being conducted under
the direct supervision of the District DCP and besides all the nearby police
stations are involved, specialized agencies like Anti Auto Theft, South, Cyber
Crime Cell, EOW are also associated. As regards the phone and laptop of the
deceased are concerned, the same were taken into possession and all the data
available therein has been transferred into another electronic media with the
technical assistance of Institute of Informatics and Communication,
University of Delhi, South Campus. Since the phone and the laptop were not
the suspected objects of the crime the same were returned. The investigation
agency has the entire material available with it and it is still progressing.
More than 272 persons have been examined in the present case, mostly on the
W.P. (Crl.) No. 1014/2011 Page 4 of 7
basis of analysis of the electronic data. Besides position investigation has also
been carried out to see the exact location of the suspect. The CDR analysis
and the dump data analysis has also been conducted. According to the learned
Additional Standing Counsel the text messages relied upon by the Petitioner
and the list of dates prepared conveniently skipped the interaction after 17th
February, 2011 till 1st April, 2011. However, the CDR details show that there
are enough number of calls inter se shobhit and shivangi besides messages.
All persons who are mentioned in the phone book of the deceased have been
examined. Since it is a murder case wherein no eye-witness has been found
till date, investigations have been conducted from all angles including road
rage, robbery and substance related issues. In this regard verifications were
done from all bad characters of the area, TSR drivers, students in the college
as well as friends, computer communication on Skype and entire CCTV
footage of the mall where the deceased last visited was also examined. It is
further contended that the present case does not fall within the parameters of
the tests laid down by the Constitution Bench in State of West Bengal and
others vs. Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, West Bengal and
others, 2010 (3) SCC 571 and T.C. Thangaraj vs. V. Engammal and others,
2011 (8) Scale 488. Hence the present petition be dismissed.
5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties.
W.P. (Crl.) No. 1014/2011 Page 5 of 7
6. The present case relates to the unfortunate offence of murder of the
Petitioner’s son at around 9.30 p.m. on 5th May, 2011 near C-5, Gali No. 2,
Vasant Kunj. The deceased had four stab wounds besides abrasions on the
arm and the knees. A perusal of the status report filed by the Respondents
shows that extensive investigations have been conducted from all angles
however, the issue which arises in the present petition is that despite extensive
investigations having been conducted which have not yielded results whether
the investigation should continue with the same agency or it should be
transferred to another agency. In the State of West Bengal (Supra) their
Lordships held that the extra ordinary power to direct CBI to conduct
investigation in a case should be exercised sparingly, cautiously and in
exceptional situations where it becomes necessary to provide credibility and
instill confidence in investigations or where the incident may have national
and international ramifications or where such an order may be necessary for
doing complete justice and enforcing the fundamental rights. Otherwise CBI
would be flooded with a large number of cases and with limited resources,
may find it difficult to properly investigate even serious cases and in the
process lose its credibility and purpose with unsatisfactory investigations.
Learned counsel for the Petitioner has strenuously contended that the
Respondents have lost credibility. A perusal of the efforts made by the local
W.P. (Crl.) No. 1014/2011 Page 6 of 7
police though may not have been able to instill confidence in the Petitioner
however, the same cannot be undermined. There is no denial to the fact that
the offence committed is a gruesome one, where a young college boy has been
murdered with no trails left behind. In such a situation where despite
extensive investigation, the investigating agency has reached a dead end to
enforce the fundamental rights of the Petitioner and in the interest of justice, it
is essential to transfer the investigation to another agency.
7. In the facts and circumstances of the case, I, therefore, deem it fit to
transfer the investigation in case FIR No.114/2011 under Section 302 IPC
registered at PS Vasant Kunj to Crime Branch of Delhi Police. Needless to
direct that the investigation will be conducted under the direct supervision of
DCP Crime Branch, Delhi Police.
Petition is disposed of.
(MUKTA GUPTA)
JUDGE
NOVEMBER 04, 2011
vn
W.P. (Crl.) No. 1014/2011 Page 7 of 7
