SHILLONG: The High Court of Meghalaya has reserved the judgment on the controversial P.J. Marbaniang ‘murder’ case even as the Court, during the hearing on Wednesday, indicated that it was a fit case to be handed over to the CBI.
The High Court was hearing the PIL filed by the mother of late Marbaniang who had sought a CBI probe into the matter doubting the credibility of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) which had arrived at a conclusion that it was a case of suicide.
Earlier on November 24, the High Court had asked both the petitioner and the police to file separate affidavits regarding the death of Marbaniang, the former officer in charge of Patharkhmah police station.
Marbaniang’s body was found with bullet injuries on his head on January 25 at his official quarter, a day after he had detained 32 coal laden trucks.
As per the affidavit filed by the mother of the deceased police officer, there was no immediate action on the part of the police as the FIR was filed only on January 27.
The affidavit pointed out that no proper procedure was followed under section 174 CrPC (immediate intimation to Executive Magistrate for inquest) and also regarding preservation of place of occurrence for FSL examination.
The petitioner also said that the senior health and medical officer, Patharkhmah, had re-affirmed that the entry wound was from the back of the head.
Moreover, there are discrepancies with regard to the size of the wound on the forehead and the back of the head and also on the time and date of death of the police officer.
The affidavit quoting the post-mortem report of NEIGRIHMS pointed out that there were bruises on the left eye of late Marbaniang, which according to the petitioner must be the result of a scuffle.
Another discrepancy is that though the gun was lying on the left hand of late Marbaniang, no finger print could be detected from the gun and moreover, the police officer was a right handed person.
As per the report of the Forensic Laboratory, Shillong, no gunshot residues were detected from the hands of the police officer.
The Assistant Director, Chemistry Division Forensic Laboratory, Shillong, had pointed out that the entire room where the police officer was found dead had been washed.
Since no physical evidences were found, no conclusion could be made as to the manner in which the deceased would have been shot and the petitioner also doubted the nature of blood stain traces in the room.
The petitioner pointed out that the death of her son was following the detention of 32 trucks and there was no reason for him to commit suicide.
The petitioner sought the CBI inquiry by stating that the SIT headed by police personnel would not be impartial while probing the death of a police officer since there is also involvement of police personnel in the case related to transportation of coal.
