Patna HC orders CBI probe into disappearance of man from police detention

The Patna High Court has ordered a CBI probe into the disappearance of a man who went missing after being detained by Excise Police officials in Bihar’s Bhojpur district one year ago.

The court stated that the police investigation into the case was biased, and the investigators did not show urgency after an FIR was lodged in this regard.

It was alleged that Sanoj Kumar, a centring mason, was detained on the charge of consuming liquor near a Kali temple at Dharahara Musahar Toli in Bihiya police station area and was beaten up by the personnel on August 13, 2025, and has not been seen since then.

The police had stated that the man jumped from a police vehicle and fled during transit. Sanoj Kumar’s father, Gauri Shankar Ram, moved the high court seeking a CBI probe into the disappearance of his son.

In an order dated August 7, a division bench comprising Justices Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Alok Kumar Sinha ordered a CBI investigation into the case.

According to the order, Sanoj called up his family on the evening of August 13, 2025, and said police apprehended him on allegations of consuming liquor near a Kali temple. He dialled again and told the family that police personnel were beating him “mercilessly”, after which the call was disconnected.

His father lodged a complaint at Bihiya police station the next day, seeking to know his son’s whereabouts. The court noted that Sanoj’s motorcycle was later found abandoned near the place where he had allegedly been detained. Excise Department SI Deeraj Kumar, ASI Raju Kumar, Home guards Dharmendra Paswan, Umesh Kumar Yadav, and Raju Kumar, and drivers Raju Kumar Singh, Vikash Kumar and Surendra Kumar Singh were marked as suspects by the police.

Describing it as one of the “rare and exceptional cases,” the court said it warranted transfer of the investigation to an independent agency such as CBI, especially since several Excise Police officials were suspects in the case and the progress had been tardy over the year gone by.

“Bias on the part of the state investigating agency may be clearly deduced from their inaction,” the bench observed, adding that two accused ASIs were in a “position to influence the investigation.” The court said it had “no iota of doubt” that the state investigating agency had failed to show urgency after the FIR was registered.

Local witnesses were not promptly examined, material witnesses were not produced before a magistrate and meaningful steps to interrogate suspects and collect scientific evidence were not taken for a considerable period of time, the court noted.

The court recorded that Excise officials repeatedly changed their statement, eventually settling on the assertion that they detained five individuals, of whom two were released after a breath-analyser test. The remaining three were taken in a police vehicle towards Bihiya Chaurasta, but one man jumped from the vehicle and fled.

The court observed that the doors of the vehicle in which the men were taken were closed from outside, and unless the rear door was opened, it would not be possible for anyone to jump outside and escape.

Investigations revealed that there was a scuffle involving Sanoj and the excise vehicle’s private driver who had put a towel around the detainee’s neck and pulled him, the court order noted. The bench also directed the CBI to constitute a team of reputed officers and said the agency would be free to interrogate police officials connected with the earlier investigation.

The CBI has been directed to submit an action-taken report by the next hearing on September 11.