Witness to Dubey murder was with CBI, agency now says we don’t know where he is

After bringing him from Gaya to New Delhi, interrogating him, keeping him ‘‘informally’’ for almost two weeks, the CBI n...

After bringing him from Gaya to New Delhi, interrogating him, keeping him ‘‘informally’’ for almost two weeks, the CBI now claims it doesn’t know the whereabouts of Pradeep Kumar, the rickshaw-puller who was the prime witness to the murder of NHAI engineer Satyendra Dubey.

Instead, the CBI spokesperson doles out this curious explanation for his disappearance: ‘‘His statement was recorded and after that the witness was discharged and he was on his own.’’

Not only does this cast a shadow on the CBI’s investigation, it also raises questions about the seriousness with which the agency is pursuing the case, a case in which the Prime Minister himself had said that ‘‘those responsible for his death, wherever they may be, will not be spared.’’

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Dubey was murdered after he complained he was being threatened ever since he blew the whistle on alleged corruption in the highway project and his request for confidentiality was ignored.

For the record, the CBI, responding to a questionnaire sent by The Indian Express on Pradeep Kumar’s disappearance, says: ‘‘The present whereabouts of Pradeep, the rickshaw puller, is not known to the CBI.’’ And then adds: ‘‘He will be contacted for further investigation as and when required.’’

But there is more to it.

Extensive interviews of CBI officials, who declined to be identified, have revealed:

	‘It’s CBI’s interest to protect witness’

			• CVC P Shankar: In India there is no witness protection scheme as in the US. Therefore, protection of the witness is entirely the duty of the state or central police, in whose custody the witness is. • Ex-CJ, NHRC Chief Justice J S Verma: In a case like Dubey’s, it should be in the interest of the CBI to protect its witnesses who are important. Story continues below this ad

• Pradeep Kumar arrived at the Loknayak Bhavan office of the CBI’s Special Unit-IV around December 25 and his statement under Section 161 of the CrPC was recorded on December 28.

• Subsequently, for several days, Pradeep was spotted in and around the CBI office, running errands, even carrying tea to cabins of senior officers. Officially, the CBI denies this but the spokesperson admits that Pradeep ‘‘used to come to the office frequently.’’ And that ‘‘during one such visit, a portrait (of the suspected killer) was also built in the computer on the basis of his statement.’’

• In early January, Dubey’s brother, Dhananjay, was in Delhi and requested the CBI that he be allowed to meet the man who saw his brother get killed. Speaking to The Indian Express from Gaya, Dhananjay tonight confirmed the ‘‘short meeting’’ and said he was shocked that the agency does now know where Pradeep is.

• Around January 10, when a team headed by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) was leaving for Gaya, Pradeep was called for questioning again. It was then that officials were informed that he had left, ‘‘a night or two earlier’’ borrowed Rs 1,000 from a junior CBI official and told them he was boarding a train for Bihar.

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• Incidentally, this came days before Pradeep Kumar was scheduled to take a lie-detector test, requested for by the agency itself.

• The CBI team in Gaya told The Indian Express that Pradeep is in New Delhi, ‘‘hale and hearty and since he is not talking, the only thing we can do is to keep him there till he speaks.’’

When asked about this, the CBI spokesperson in New Delhi said: ‘‘The team at present located at Gaya consisting of subordinate officers (as the Chief Investigating Officer is in Delhi) is not aware of all the developments.’’

At scene of the crime, his wife waits, CBI staff contradict their bosses

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More

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