Karnataka High Court Orders CBI to Investigate the Murder of Former Kolar ZP President M. Srinivas

Karnataka High Court directed the investigation conducted by the local police and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) as “shoddy” and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct Start from scratch Investigation on the murder of Srinivas M. Srinivas, former president of Kolar Zilla Panchayat.

“This is a classic example of the transfer of the investigation to the CBI, not for further investigation, but for conducting Start from scratch (From the beginning) Investigation. Such directions are not only necessary, as both local police and CID have flooded the whispers of truth in deep water through gliding investigations,” the court noted.

Justice Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing Srinivas’s wife S. Chandrakala to file a petition, who sought investigations to be transferred to the CBI.

Glare blank

While the court lists the mistakes and ruthlessness in the investigation, “the huge loopholes in the investigation will not even inspire confidence in the investigations conducted by local police or CID.”

The court pointed out that in both investigations, the Mohasars did not carry out photography according to legal necessity. As the defendant’s bodies and their clothes were covered with blood, no blood tests were performed on any defendant. No investigation was conducted to track the defendant’s movement before the incident. And, even now, the cell phones of the eight defendants are missing.

The court said that even the call details report (CRD) of the defendant’s mobile phone was collected under the direction issued by the court, and they pointed out that even the cell phone tower in the place where the defendant moved before the incident did not take the dump of the cell phone tower, while noting that even some weapons used in the murder case were sent to the former forensic lab.

The court said that although the defendants themselves revealed their actions in a statement to police, CCTV footage of the defendant’s movement was not collected.

“Neither investigative officer in either agency is able to inspire confidence in the investigation being conducted, which erodes the public’s confidence in the investigation being conducted, especially in murders,” the court said.

SPP says he can’t defend fake investigation

On rare occasions, Ch Hanumantharaya, a veteran advocate who represents CID as the Special Attorney (SPP), frankly admitted that “the investigation conducted is so at a time that it failed to follow the basic principles of investigative conduct.”

The SPP acknowledged that local police and even CID investigators have not done enough to uncover the truth, noting that “in the case of murder, it is a state of regret to investigate in this way.”