The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the CBI to probe the gruesome murder of Itishree Pradhan, a teacher in Rayagada district, who died on November 1, 2013 after battling with severe burn injuries sustained five days before.
The apex court, in response to a PIl, asked the CBI Director to form an investigating team within a week to nab the prime accused in the murder case and submit a report within two months.
“An inordinate delay in the investigation by the State Crime Branch has given sufficient ground to order for a CBI probe into the incident with immediate effect,” said Suresh Tripathy, counsel for the Bengaluru-based petitioner Sudipta lenka.
While the State Government had requested the Supreme Court to allow it to continue the investigation, the court declined to accept the plea, pointing out that the police are yet to nab the prime accused more than one year after the incident, which cast doubt about the investigation by the State police, Tripathy said.
In his reaction, leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Narasingha Mishra said the probe ordered by the State Government into the Itishree murder case was not impartial, as a result of which the Supreme Court ordered a CBI inquiry. Politicians, the district administration and police officers, who were responsible for the murder of Itishree, would now be punished, he added.
The BJP said the order of the apex court is a severe jolt to the BJD Government. “We had demanded that the State Government take action against the concerned officials, district Collector and SP and place them under suspension.”
“But leave alone taking action, the Government chose to retain the Collector, under whose tenure the incident had taken place, said senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra. BJP State president KV Singh Deo said, “There was a demand from all quarters for an impartial probe into the incident. In her dying declaration, Itishree had held both the district Collector and SP responsible for the incident.”
Itishree had been set on fire while she was in her room at the Tikiri Upper Primary School campus on the night of October 27, 2013. While her first statement was recorded by a magistrate at the Rayagada District Headquarters Hospital, the Metropolitan Magistrate of Vishakhapatnam had recorded her dying statement in which she had blamed the Chief Minister and the district administration for their apathetic attitude and for not taking any action against a teacher and the officials who had been harassing and threatening her. While Itishree’s father Balabhadra Pradhan has died in the meanwhile, her mother has been desperately waiting for justice.