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CBI to probe death of Bihar engineer
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday consented to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the mysterious death of Yogendra Pandey, a state public works department engineer on June 18.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday consented to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the mysterious death of Yogendra Pandey, a state public works department engineer on June 18.
Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah said the government, conceding to the demand of the Bihar Engineering Service Association (BESA), would make its recommendation public on Thursday.
Talking to BESA representatives, Amanullah said the police had two days ago recommended a CBI probe into the death.
Pandey, an executive engineer with the Sitamarhi road division, died after falling from the district collectorate building on June 18. Even though a suicide note was found on him, his family and colleagues claimed he was pushed from the top of the building.
Pandey had reportedly been receiving threats and sought police protection almost a year ago. Early this month, he was physically assaulted, allegedly by Kishore Singh, owner of Vats Constructions.
Pandey had terminated Singh’s contract for shoddy and delayed work. Singh was arrested but later jumped bail and is now absconding.
Over 20,000 engineers threatened to go on strike from Thursday, which could affect the state’s development schemes worth Rs 80,000 crore. BESA activists demanded the arrest of the accused and a CBI probe into the alleged killing.
The mystery behind Pandey’s death deepened further as reports of two post- mortems conducted at Sitamarhi and later at Patna Medical College Hospital contradicted each other.
The second post mortem was ordered after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s intervention in the matter.
Admitting the contradiction in the two reports, deputy inspector general of Tirhut B. Srinivasan told HT on Wednesday that he would now go in for a third opinion.
He said, “I am not a medical expert nor is the police. I will take the opinion of medical experts to explain the contradictions in the two reports.”
According to sources, the second report pointed at some foul play, as despite a fall from the third floor, the body had just one broken bone.
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