Delhi High Court asks police not to arrest CRPF jawan in kidnapping case

In an order dated on June 23, Justice Arora said, “…in view of the aforesaid submission that the applicant is willing to join and cooperate during the investigation, therefore, this court deems fit to direct that the petitioner shall not be arrested till the next date of hearing… subject to the petitioner joining and fully cooperating in the investigation.”

“The petitioner is directed to appear before the IO (investigation officer) tomorrow… at 5 pm and as and when further summoned by the IO,” the court added. The prosecution was also asked to file a status report two days prior to the next hearing on July 3.

The court noted the submissions of the jawan’s counsel, who said his client and the person who was allegedly abducted had been friends for about one-and-a-half years, and he had voluntarily accompanied the petitioner to Kashmir on June 4.

Senior advocate Nandita Rao, who appeared for the jawan, argued that the victim himself had stated before the IO at Kathua in Jammu & Kashmir on June 7 that he was not kidnapped for ransom. She also submitted that the accused was ready to join the investigation. Stating that the jawan has “deep roots” in society, Rao submitted that his father and brother were both serving in the Army.

Additional Public Prosecutor Laksh Khanna, who appeared for the state, argued that in his second statement given on June 14, the victim had stated that he was indeed kidnapped by the jawan. Khanna also argued that the WhatsApp texts received by the victim’s wife allegedly mentioned the ransom demand.

“During investigation, multiple teams of Jyoti Nagar police station, Gokulpuri subdivision and Operations unit of North East were deployed. The team’s efforts resulted in arrest of accused the late hours on Tuesday,” DCP (North East) Ashish Mishra said.

“The woman’s friend was allegedly upset with her because she had stopped talking to him for the past few days. On Monday, he disguised himself in a burqa and went to meet the woman on the fifth-floor terrace of her apartment building. He told her to come upstairs for a conversation. They likely had an argument there, which escalated when he pushed her off the building,” said an officer.