The deceased was found behind his employer's house in Sangli; his family's lawyer alleges that police deliberately did not register an FIR in the case
Dattatray Kale
A division bench of the Bombay High court has sought a reply from the Additional Superintendent of Police and an inspector rank officer from Jat police station, Sangli, for not probing the suspicious death of a local villager in June 2017. The deceased, Dattatray Kale, 35, a resident of Sordi village, was working at the farm of the Gaikwad family, which has been named in the petition by his widow Nanda, 25, in the mysterious death.
mid-day had reported the filing of the writ petition in its article on October 31, 2017, titled 'Sangli District cops fail to file FIR in man's death, wife alleges honour killing.'
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Dattatray Kale's wife has now named five members of the Gaikwad family, his employers, whom she suspects to be involved in his mysterious death. File pics
Justices upset with police
A division bench of Justices B P Dharmadhikari and Revathi Dere were upset with the clandestine approach of the police in the case, when it was heard on January 17, 2019.
According to advocate Rajeshwar Panchal, who appeared for the victim's family, "The court directed the concerned police officers to submit personal affidavits explaining the reason for not attending to such a serious complaint. The court has clarified that the request for compensation and ad interim compensation as demanded by the widow shall be also looked into during the next hearing on February 12, 2019."
A criminal writ petition was filed in Bombay High Court by Nanda, seeking compensation and action against erring police officers from Jat police station, for allegedly ignoring her plea to probe the mysterious death of her husband.
According to Panchal, "The division bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and B R Gavai has accepted the seriousness of the content filed in the Criminal Writ petition, and has even accepted our argument that apart from registering an FIR, and compensating the family, the court should direct a probe into the role of police officers from the rank of Inspector General of Police, Kolhapur Range to the Senior Police Inspector at Jat Police station, for deliberately not registering an FIR in the case."
Court wants police response
He added, "We pleaded to the court to make the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) and Director General of Police (DG) probe the role of police failure in investigating the case. The court accordingly, issued notices to all the concerned, including ACS (Home) and DG, and has sought their response before the next date which is on February 12, 2018."
Advocate Panchal added, "With this latest order (passed on January 17, 2019 by the high court), we are very hopeful that ultimately the family of the victim will be given justice by the high court, and that will reassure us that we live in a society which is governed by rules." The advocate in his writ petition has suspected the role of local police.
The case
On June 21, 2017, Kale left his house at 5:00 pm for some work, but did not come back. His wife called his mobile, but it was switched off. Panchal said, "The next day on June 22, around 6:00 am, a member of Kale's family received a phone call saying he was lying behind Gaikwad's house. Kale's family rushed to the spot and found him lying dead. They raised suspicion as his mobile phone, slipper and under wear were missing."
Panchal added, "The local Jat police were informed and they shifted the body to a rural hospital in a tempo, without conducting the spot panchnama, which was mandatory under section 174 of Criminal Procedure code."
According to Panchal, Kale, who worked on the farm of Gaikwads, was in an illicit relationship with a woman in the house. This was learnt by the male members in the Gaikwad family.
Nanda, in her petition, has alleged that one Dhanashri Gaikwad, few days before the death of Kale, had beaten her and had threatened to kill both Nanda and her husband. Nanda has now named five members of the Gaikwad family, whom she suspects to be involved in the mysterious death of Kale.
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