HC orders SIT probe into 2024 murder of Uttarakhand man, says will monitor case
The order came on a petition filed by Faim’s brother Parvez who contested the initial police version that Faim was killed in the violence that broke out in Haldwani in February 2024
Dehradun: The Uttarakhand high court on Wednesday ordered the state police to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the death of Faim Qureshi killed around the same time the Banbhulpura violence broke out in Haldwani on 8 February 2024.
The bench of chief justice G Narender and justice Alok Mahra also decided to monitor the investigations in the case.
The order came on a petition filed by Faim’s brother Parvez who contested the initial police version that he was killed in the violence that broke out in Haldwani in February 2024. Parvez insisted that Faim was murdered by some people during the Banbhulpura violence on February 8, 2024, and had succumbed to bullet injuries.
The petition said Nainital’s chief judicial magistrate ordered the state police on May 6 last year to register a case in connection with Faim’s death and investigate the murder.
Following Parvez’s petition, the high court on June 4 told the state police to submit a report in the case.
Lawyer Avtar Singh Rawat, who appeared for Parvez, said the high court expressed its displeasure and ordered the SIT probe after the state DGP filed the same report submitted earlier by the Haldwani circle officer.
“The court also said that it will monitor the investigation itself,” said Rawat.
“The report, which the court sought from the DGP Uttarakhand, was the same report which was earlier filed in the court by the Circle Officer Haldwani. After hearing the case today, the court also ordered the transfer of the police officer posted at that time, who had done the investigation into the matter, out of Nainital district,” he said.
Violent clashes erupted in the Banbhulpura area of Haldwani district on the evening of February 8, when civic authorities razed two structures — Masjid Mariam (mosque) and Abdul Razzaq Zakaria madrasa — alleging that they were illegally built on state government (nazool) land.
As workers from the Haldwani Municipal Corporation and Nainital administration razed the 20-year-old structure, residents of the area set afire several vehicles, a police station and hurled stones at the demolition team as well as police personnel, police said. The violence had claimed the lives of six people and injured over 100 people.
