Judge held for wife’s murder

GURGAON/PANCHKULA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday evening arrested Ravneet Garg, a serving civil judge of Haryana, in connection with the

GURGAON/PANCHKULA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday evening arrested Ravneet Garg, a serving civil judge of Haryana, in connection with the murder of his wife Geetanjali three years ago.

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Garg, 34, was arrested after the CBI intimated the chief justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and sessions judge of Kaithal.

Ravneet, was produced before CBI special magistrate Kapil Rathi on Thursday morning at Panchkula where he was remanded to five-day police custody.

“The CBI has arrested the then chief judicial magistrate, Gurgaon (presently serving as the civil judge- senior division, Kaithal, Haryana) in an on-going investigation of a case relating to the alleged murder of his wife Geetanjali,” a CBI spokesperson confirmed.

The agency alleged discrepancies in lie detection and brain mapping. Lie detection uses physiological functions to ascertain the truth, while brain mapping is based on brainwave frequency bandwidths to ascertain the truth.

Geetanjali, 28, was found dead in a park of Police Lines complex in Gurgaon with multiple bullet injuries on July 17, 2013. Ravneet was then posted as chief judicial magistrate in the district.

During Thursday’s court proceedings, the CBI — represented by assistant deputy attorney DP Tiwari — told the court that Geetanjali was found dead in mysterious circumstances. He said a dowry case had been registered against the judge and his family. Also there were discrepancies in his lie detection and brain mapping tests.

SK Garg Narwana, counsel for Ravneet Garg, said: “The CBI was seeking a remand of 14 days. We strongly opposed it. Ravneet had been cooperating with the CBI.”

Geetanjali’s death was initially projected as a case of suicide. The suicide theory, however, fell flat after the post-mortem report said one bullet had hit the victim in her stomach, another hit her chin and pierced her head and the third had injured her neck.

Geetanjali’s parents then alleged that she was being harassed for dowry and accused their son-in-law Ravneet and his family of killing their daughter.

The Haryana government recommended a CBI probe in the case on July 27, 2013 with the central agency officially taking over the case on August 7 that year.

The CBI lodged a murder case in Gurgaon in which Ravneet was named as the prime suspect.

Geeatanjali’s family on Thursday welcomed the development and hailed it as a step towards justice.

They allege that Ravneet was never sacked from his official position, which he used to influence the case.