IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE V.RAMKUMAR WEDNESDAY, THE 23RD JANUARY 2008 / 3RD MAGHA 1929 WP(C).No. 36397 of 2007(G) -------------------------- PETITIONER: ----------------------- MAGGIE VIJU, VALLAKALIL HOUSE, MELPADAM, MANNAR, NOW RESIDING AT 'BETHANIYA', NEAR Y.M.C.A. OVER BRIDGE, THIRUVALLA. BY ADV. SRI.RINNY STEPHEN CHAMAPARAMPIL RESPONDENTS: ----------------------- 1. STATE OF KERALA, REP. BY ITS HOME SECRETARY, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 2. DIRECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE, PUBLIC HEAD QUARTERS, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. 3. SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE, S.P.OFFICE, PATHANAMTHITTA. 4. S.I. OF POLICE, POLICE STATION, THIRUVALLA. 5. CENTRAL BEARUE OF INVESTIGATION, REP. BY ITS DIRECTOR, C.B.I. HEAD QUARTERS, NEW DELHI. ZSWQA. BY ADV. SRI.S.SREEKUMAR, SC FOR CBI PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SRI.K.S.SIVAKUMAR THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 23/01/2008, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: V.RAMKUMAR, J = = = = = = = = = = = = = W.P.(C). No.36397 Of 2007 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Dated this the 23rd day of January, 2008 JUDGMENT The petitioner, a hapless young lady aged 33 years, inter alia, seeks a CBI investigation into her husband’s mysterious death which she strongly believes to be a cold blooded murder. 2. The petitioner’s husband, Viju Koshy was a Tata Sumo driver by avocation for the last about three years. He was running his Tata Sumo van as engaged by a businessman by name Vasigaran based at Tirunelveli. The said Vasikaran is carrying on his business of taking copies of the Holy Bible on a large scale from various Bible Societies and thereafter binding the same in his press at Thirunelveli and selling them at various Christian Convention Centers. The petitioner’s husband used to transport Bibles on a large scale from Ernakulam to Thirunelveli and from there to various convention centers. On 24.09.07, the petitioner’s husband had gone to Janakpuri in Delhi along with one Kunjumon and Babu as engaged by the aforesaid Vasikaran for transporting Bible to a Christian Convention center organized by 'the Pentecostal Mission' at Janakpuri in Delhi. He W.P.C.No.36397 of 2007 2 reached Delhi on 26.9.07 and until then he was hail and hearty and had talked with the petitioner through his mobile phone. But in the night of 26.9.07, he was assaulted by some persons in the building where he was staying along with the said Kunjumon and Babu. That accommodation was also arranged by Vasigaran. On the next day morning, the petitioner's husband had vaguely narrated the incident to the petitioner over phone and requested her to bring him back home. When on the request of the petitioner, her husband’s mobile phone was given to Kunjumon with whom the petitioner enquired as to why her husband was worried and frightened, Kunjumon replied by stating that it was due to home sickness and there was nothing serious. The petitioner believed those words and went to sleep. But on the next day morning, at about 5.30 a.m., Kunjumon had called at her mobile phone and told her that during the previous night her husband had created some problems by entering into another room and there was a scuffle between the inmates of that room and the petitioner's husband and they had pushed him out. After leaving children at School, the petitioner made a call to her husband’s mobile phone and talked to him. During that talk, his voice was full of fear and he has told her that on the previous W.P.C.No.36397 of 2007 3 night he was badly assaulted by two persons wearing caps, in the building where he was staying and he requested the petitioner to take him back to home. He had also told her that after reaching home, he would file a case against Kunjumon. The petitioner thereupon contacted Kunjumon and asked him to send back her husband to home. Kunjumon told her that two ordinary tickets have already been purchased for travel by Kerala Express and the petitioner’s husband Viju Koshy would be sent to Thiruvalla along with Babu. Kunjumon had also told her that her husband accompanied by Babu would be leaving Delhi at 11.15 p.m. on 27.09.07. The incidents which took place thereafter were very mysterious. At about 11.30 a.m on 27.9.07, a person who is unknown to the petitioner called her in her mobile phone and told her that her husband had boarded the train and the train had just left the station. When the petitioner asked him whether Babu was with her husband, he replied in the negative. When she asked the reason for the same, the anonymous caller told her that her husband had insisted that he would travel alone. Thereafter when the petitioner made several calls to her husband’s mobile phone, except attending the calls, he was not responding to the same, nor did he talk anything. The W.P.C.No.36397 of 2007 4 petitioner’s husband was due to arrive at Thiruvalla Railway Station on 29.9.07. But he did not arrive in that train either on 29.9.07 or any day thereafter. On 1.10.07, the petitioner had lodged a complaint before the Circle Inspector of Police, Thiruvalla, but no action was taken on that complaint. The petitioner had also made an enquiry to trace out the details of her husband’s mobile phone through an Executive Engineer working in the BSNL. It was revealed to the petitioner that from 27.9.07 onwards all the calls to the mobile phone of the petitioner’s husband were responded within the range of a BSNL tower situated at Bharatpur in Rajasthan. But the Kerala Express in which the petitioner’s husband had allegedly boarded does not pass through any part of the State of Rajasthan much less, Bharatpur. The petitioner had also sent a complaint through fax to the Union Home Minister and Union Defence Minister. Exts.P1 and P2 are the true copies of those complaints. Since no action was forthcoming from any of the quarters, the petitioner met the Dy.S.P, Thiruvalla on whose request the petitioner wrote a complaint on 3.10.07 to the Sub Inspector of Police, Thiruvalla who registered Ext.P3-FIR as Crime No.639/2007 under the caption “man missing’. On W.P.C.No.36397 of 2007 5 10.11.07, Kunju @ Monayi who is nephew of the petitioner’s husband had gone to Rajasthan and had inserted a public notice together with the photograph of petitioner’s husband in Rajasthan regarding the disappearance of the petitioner’s husband. The said Monayi had also met some police Officers in Rajasthan. But he did not contact the petitioner nor did he pass on any information to the petitioner regarding the details of enquiry conducted by him at Rajasthan. Monayi was establishing contacts with one Sunil, who is a first cousin of petitioner’s husband. On 10.11.07, the said Sunil received an information from Rajasthan Police to the effect that on 29.9.07 to the dead body of a man named 'Viju George' was found at Bharatpur and the dead body was cremated by the Rajasthan Police on 30.9.07. Getting suspicious from the alleged information, the petitioner's brother and her sister's husband decided to proceed to Rajasthan on 12.11.07. At that juncture, Sunil referred to above received an E.mail from the Rajasthan Police showing the picture of a dead body which the Rajasthan Police had come across. On verification the petitioner identified that it was her husband's photograph. Ext.P4 is the E.mail containing the said photograph. The said photograph shows the W.P.C.No.36397 of 2007 6 dead body of a person smeared with mud. When the Rajasthan Police had allegedly found the dead body of the petitioner's husband on 29.9.07, apart from a railway ticket, a bus ticket and Rs.1500/- which were found in the pocket of the dead body, there was nothing to suggest the identity of the person. If so, the question remains as to how the Rajasthan Police identified the name of the deceased person as “Viju George” instead of Viju Koshy. Another important aspect is that after finding the dead body on 29.9.07, the Rajasthan Police moved in a hasty manner by conducting the post mortem on the same day and by cremating the dead body on the next day. No attempt was made by the Rajasthan Police to trace out the whereabouts of the deceased or to hand over the dead body to his relatives. At least from the railway ticket which showed that he was undertaking a journey from Delhi to Thiruvalla, the Rajasthan Police could have contacted the Thiruvalla Police to find out as to whether any such person was residing within the jurisdiction of the Thiruvalla Police. The whole development would go to suggest that an attempt on the part of the Rajasthan Police was afoot to cover up the entire incident presumably on account of the influence of somebody, who might have had a significant role in causing the W.P.C.No.36397 of 2007 7 disappearance and eventual death of the petitioner's husband. Even though the petitioner informed the Thiruvalla Police about the above developments, no attempt has been made even to question Kunjumon and Babu who had returned from Delhi to Thiruvalla and were freely moving about along the streets of Thiruvalla. The sequence of events from 26.7.07 to 11.11.07 will reveal that the death of the petitioner's husband, who was aged 43 years, was not an accidental death but a pre-planned, cold blooded murder and in the process of destruction of evidence of the offence even the Rajasthan Police was a privy. The petitioner strongly believes that Vasigaran, Kunjumon and Babu had played major roles behind the death of her husband and it is due to their influence that the Rajasthan Police and the Kerala Police had sabotaged the entire investigation. 3. After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioner and perusing the materials produced, there is every reason to suspect that the petitioner's husband was brutally assaulted while at Delhi where an accommodation was arranged by Vasikaran and he was taken to a remote place in Rajasthan and dead body was cremated even without an autopsy and the fact that the dead body was located not at Delhi but at Bharatpur in W.P.C.No.36397 of 2007 8 Rajasthan adds to the suspicion that Vasikaran and Kunjumon might have conveniently exterminated the persons against whom they had an axe to grind. Since the occurrence took place beyond the frontiers of the State of Kerala and the requires detailed investigation at Delhi as well as at Bharatpur and the Kerala Police will be ill equipped to undertake the herculean task of inter-state investigation. I am of the view that this is pre- eminently a fit case which should be entrusted with the CBI for a fair and impartial further investigation and to bring the culprits, if any, to justice. 4. The Central Bureau of Investigation shall re-register the case and commence investigation forthwith. 5. The State Government shall provide the necessary infrastructural facilities to the officers of the CBI conducting further investigation. This Writ Petition is allowed as above. (V.RAMKUMAR, JUDGE) sj