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Journalism of Courage
The CBI plans to re-open the 1996 murder case of a Delhi University teacher after a probe found that former UP chief secretary Akhand Pratap Singh was purchasing property in the victim’s name and had also allegedly forged his will. Earlier, the Delhi Police had closed the case.
Govind Mishra, who was shot in the Capital while he was on his way to the university on August 17, 1996, was a ‘‘close friend’’ of Singh, a 1967 batch IAS officer who retired as a top bureaucrat in Uttar Pradesh in 2003. Singh was last week chargesheeted in a disproportionate assets case. He was purchasing property in Mishra’s name and later transferring it in his daughter’s name to avoid detection of the ill-gotten money, the CBI alleged.
Mishra remained in hospital for 14 days after being shot at by two assailants. He breathed his last on August 31, 1996. There was no dying statement as he was in coma. CBI sources said the investigating officer had mentioned in the file that the deceased had a property dispute with Singh, but he was never questioned in the case. The case was closed on the ground that investigations were not making any headway.
However, an extensive investigation by the CBI now favours re-opening of the case and probing it afresh as the former chief secretary had opened a bank account in the name of the deceased and was routing the money through it, the CBI chargesheet said. A document was prepared in which signatures of the deceased were forged which was used as a will.
