NEW DELHI, MARCH 16: The police today admitted before the Delhi High Court that its four-year-old probe into the `Dr Surender Tanwar murder case' had failed to yield any result and said a proposal had been sent to the state government for handing over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).``The commissioner of police has written a letter to the chief secretary of Delhi government suggesting the transfer of the case to CBI, since its Special Investigation Team (SIT), after thoroughly pursuing all possible leads, has not been able to achieve any breakthrough,'' state government counsel S K Aggarwal submitted before a division bench, comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice C K Mahajan.SIT has interrogated over 40 persons, including ousted Congress president Sitaram Kesri, who were reportedly known to Dr Tanwar, whose severed parts were recovered from various places in South Delhi in November 1993. Aggarwal said police are awaiting the state government's decision.The court directedthe police not to put pressure on the family of a man who approached the court alleging that he was being constantly harassed by the police in connection with the case. The Crime Branch of Delhi Police informed the court that it was ``clueless'' as to what provoked the killing of Dr Tanwar.The petitioner's counsel S N Pandey said he had no objection in handing over the probe to CBI. ``We have been demanding it since the very beginning as Delhi police was changing its stance time and again after a government change in the centre,'' he alleged.A public interest litigation was filed by the All India Young Lawyers' Association, alleging that police were deliberately going slow in the probe to shield ``certain influential persons connected with the crime''. To a specific query by the bench as to what the SIT had done during the four-year period, Aggarwal referring to the case diary said, ``We have recorded the progress in it.'' He informed the court that no arrest had been made and Ratnakar Mowdgal, a friendof Dr Tanwar, was interrogated by the SIT. ``The allegation of harassment by Mowdgal's family is not true,'' he said.The bench expressed surprise over the SIT not taking notice of the victim's scooter which was parked at the compound of the hospital where he worked for over two years. ``Did the SIT try to find out where the scooter is? Did they find out where the vehicle used to be?'' the bench asked.To another query whether the politicians referred to in the petition were interrogated, the government counsel said, ``Yes, they have been examined and they denied knowing anything about the case.''Aggarwal said SIT has worked on all the leaders available before including a phone call received by the victim a day prior to his possible murder, but this did not lead to any conclusion.``Tanwar's wife said in May, 1991 that she was posted at Tughlakabad extension branch of Allahabad Bank; that they could not afford petrol; that her husband (Dr Tanwar) talked to Sitaram Kesri and a jeep was provided tothem, which remained with them till December 1991,'' the SIT stated in its latest affidavit.Kesri, who was questioned by police, stated that his relationship with Dr Tanwar was merely that of a patient and doctor.
