With the Supreme Court pulling it up repeatedly and setting a deadline for the arrest of two Madhya Pradesh police personnel wanted in a case of custodial death, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday informed the apex court that it had finally been able to arrest them. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan, however, continued to probe the central agency, wondering why it had failed to arrest them thus far and acted only after the court had warned that it would frame a contempt of court charge against the officers. “We find that the arrest has been made due to the stringent and strong remarks of this court. The fact remains that there has been non-compliance of the order dated 15.05.2025, and only pursuant to this contempt petition and the observations made by this court that the arrest has taken place,” the bench said in its order and asked the state and the agency to explain the delay in complying with its directions. On September 26, the court, while hearing a contempt plea by the kin of the deceased, Deva Pardhi, 26, who was detained along with his uncle Gangaram Pardhi in July 2024 and allegedly tortured, leading to his death, set October 7 as a deadline for their arrest. 'Custodial torture' in July 2024 On July 14, 2024, the police arrested the two in connection with a complaint by Bhagwan Singh from the Bhidra village at the Myana police station in the Guna district. Singh reported that unidentified people had committed theft and trespassed into his home. He claimed that silver articles, gold jewelry, and cash were stolen from the safe in his house on June 2, 2024. While transferring the investigation in the custodial torture case to the central agency, the Supreme Court on May 15 this year directed that the police officers found responsible for the death should be arrested within one month . On September 26, the Supreme Court directed that the Madhya Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Home) and the CBI investigating officer must be present in court on October 8 to face contempt of court proceedings if the two police personnel were not arrested within the deadline. On Wednesday, the CBI counsel informed the bench that one of the two absconding officers was arrested on September 27, while the other was taken into custody on October 5. The bench then sought to know why the agency had to wait so long to arrest them. 'Not how a Supreme Court order should be implemented' “What happened all these days? Why couldn't you trace them? We had to almost frame contempt charges for you to act,” Justice Nagarathna said. The judge pointed out that “there was a three-judge bench order to arrest them” and added, “This is not how a Supreme Court order should be implemented.” Justice Mahadevan sought to know “what departmental action has been taken against the two officers”. On the last date of hearing, the court expressed it displeasure that the duo was suspended from service only on September 24 even though they had been absconding for over five months. Justice Mahadevan pointed out that the accused personnel had “even filed for anticipatory bail despite this court's clear order that they should be arrested” and said there must be “concrete action” against them. The court also asked the state to apprise it of what departmental action had been taken against the duo. The court will hear the matter again on November 6.
