A Shimla court sent suspended ASI Pankaj Sharma to one-day CBI remand in the Vimal Negi death case. Sharma is accused of tampering with crucial evidence, including a pen drive recovered from the HPPCL engineer.
Shimla: On September 15, the case surrounding the mysterious death of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) Chief Engineer Vimal Negi took a major turn on Monday after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Suspended Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Pankaj Sharma for allegedly tampering with key evidence.
He is the first person to be arrested by the central agency in this high-profile case.
Sharma was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s (CJM) Court in Shimla. While the CBI had requested a five-day remand to interrogate him, the court only allowed a one-day custody.
The Background of the Case
Chief Engineer Vimal Negi had gone missing on March 10, 2025. His body was found on March 18 in the Shahtalai area near Gobind Sagar in Bilaspur district.
According to the post-mortem report, Negi had died about five days before his body was recovered.
Earlier, Negi’s wife, Kiran Negi, had made serious allegations, stating that her husband had been tortured by senior officers for nearly six months and that they had also misbehaved with him.
She approached the Himachal Pradesh High Court, seeking a CBI investigation into the matter. On May 23, 2025, the High Court accepted her plea and officially transferred the probe from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Himachal Pradesh Police to the CBI.
Role of Pankaj Sharma
Pankaj Sharma came under the CBI’s scanner because he was the first police officer to recover Negi’s pen drive and other important documents.
However, suspicions were raised when reports surfaced that some of the data from the pen drive had allegedly been deleted or formatted while it was in his custody.
The CBI had already questioned Sharma multiple times about these allegations. According to sources, the agency suspects that Sharma did not act alone but may have been directed by others to tamper with crucial digital evidence.
His arrest on Sunday is considered
“very significant in the case as it could expose the persons who allegedly asked him to tamper with crucial evidence.”
It is also alleged that Sharma had kept the pen drive with him for a period before handing it over, raising further doubts about his role.
Investigation and Legal Action
The CBI had earlier registered a case of abetment to suicide under Sections 108 and 3 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Several people connected with the case, including Negi’s family members, were examined. Statements were recorded, and a large number of officers and colleagues were questioned.
Pankaj Sharma had already been placed under suspension on May 19, 2025, a few days before the case was formally handed over to the CBI.
His custodial interrogation is now seen as a crucial step that could unravel the chain of events leading to the alleged destruction of evidence and help identify the higher-level officers who may have been involved.
What Lies Ahead
While the court has only granted the CBI one day of custody for now, legal experts believe that further remand applications are likely, depending on what Sharma reveals during interrogation.
The agency is expected to focus on the exact timeline of when the pen drive was recovered, what data was present on it, and what may have been erased.
The case continues to attract widespread public attention in Himachal Pradesh as it not only involves the mysterious death of a senior state engineer but also raises larger concerns about police accountability and possible misuse of power.
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