Justice M. Nagaprasanna formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising three senior IPS officers from the state to investigate the torture allegations and determine if the Investigating Officer (IO) is guilty of abetment of suicide.
Karnataka: Karnataka High Court on Wednesday (4th Dec) rejected the Bengaluru Advocates Association’s request for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the suicide of a woman lawyer, who allegedly faced police torture.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising three senior IPS officers from the state to investigate the torture allegations and determine if the Investigating Officer (IO) is guilty of abetment of suicide.
Additionally, the court dismissed a petition by Deputy SP Kanaka Lakshmi B.M., the accused officer, seeking to quash the FIR against her for abetting suicide. A detailed order is yet to be released.
The Advocates Association approached the High Court last month, alleging the deceased was physically assaulted, stripped, and tortured by the IO. While the state denied these claims, the court took note of the 13-page suicide note left by the lawyer, describing the alleged mistreatment.
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The deceased was an accused in a scam involving Rs 196 crore siphoned from the Karnataka Bhovi Development Corporation. She faced charges under IPC Sections 406 and 420 for criminal breach of trust and cheating. On November 13, she filed an affidavit alleging torture by the woman IO investigating the case.
Section 406 of the IPC describes the punishment for criminal breach of trust. “Whoever commits a criminal breach of trust shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.”
Section 420 IPC: Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property
Section 420 of the IPC deals with the offence of Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property. This offence is committed when a person dishonestly induces another person to deliver any property to any person, or to make, alter or destroy the whole or any part of a valuable security or anything which is signed or sealed and which is capable of being converted into a valuable security. This offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term that may extend to seven years, and also with fine.
Following this, Justice Nagaprasanna ordered that all interrogations involving the deceased be videographed and restrained the police from filing a chargesheet without court permission.
On November 22, after another interrogation, the victim wrote a suicide note at 1:30 AM and took her life by 5 AM, according to court reports. The IO was later booked for abetment of suicide under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
