Woman died in Punjab police custody, High Court hands over investigation to CBI

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has now transferred the investigation conducted by the Punjab Police’s SIT to the CBI in connection with the death of a woman in police custody. The High Court has ordered the CBI to submit the investigation report within three months.

Mukul Garg, in his petition, said that he and his fiancée Ramandeep Kaur were detained by the police in August 2017 for questioning in a cheating case registered in Ludhiana. Subsequently, his fiancée was severely beaten and died. When the petitioner’s family reported the incident to higher authorities, a cover-up operation began immediately, portraying it as a case of suicide.

Following the petition, the SIT was formed in 2019 on the High Court’s orders. The SIT registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and initiated an investigation.

The Punjab government claimed that the petitioner had previously said before the magistrate that the deceased had no relatives other than him.

However, before the SIT, it was mentioned that the girl was forcibly cremated without waiting for her family. Given this conflicting information, an argument was made against changing the statement, appealing not to transfer the investigation to the CBI.