The Supreme Court on Wednesday while disposing of the PIl on the murder of Tikiri teacher Itishree Pradhan ruled out the petitioner’s request for a CBI probe into the case and ordered action against the negligent officials who did not pay heed to Itishree’s repeated pleas.
A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, however, praised the petitioner Bengalore -based Odia law student Sudipta lenka for bringing the matter to the court’s attention.
The apex court had reserved its verdict in the case after completion of the hearing on March 5. During the hearing, the State Government’s counsel Nageswar Rao had opposed the transfer of the investigation of the case to the CBI on the ground that the State Crime Branch has done a through probe and submitted a chargesheet against the prime accused. Rao, however, admitted that Itishree had indeed sent her petition to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, but no action had been taken on it.
He also indicated that the State Government is considering taking disciplinary action against the Collector and the SP of Rayagada district for their failure to act in time. Counsel for the petitioner senior lawyer Suresh Tripathy had rubbished the Crime Branch report and prayed that the case be handed over to an independent agency like the CBI because powerful people including local BJD MP Jayaram Pangi were involved in the case.