Year later, Malerkotla boy’s murder case moved to CBI

After almost a year of the murder of Malerkotla boy Vidhu Jain, the case was on Wednesday notified to be moved to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), finally. Punjab and Haryana high court had ordered the Punjab government to make the handover before September 29.

After almost a year of the murder of Malerkotla boy Vidhu Jain, the case was on Wednesday notified to be moved to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), finally.

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Hearing the petition of Vidhu’s mother, Aarti Jain, on September 19, the Punjab and Haryana high court had ordered the Punjab government to make the handover before September 29, since the police had failed to catch the culprits. The CBI had earlier submitted that the state was yet to make a formal request for investigation.

On September 30 last year, Vidhu Jain (12), son of a kite seller, was burnt alive on a market street in Malerkotla. His family has accused politicians, bureaucrats and the police of lying for a year that they had moved the case to the CBI. “Now they issue the notification after court order,” said Vidhu’s father, Navneet Jain, adding: “Now we are hopeful of justice.”

I fled home: father

Remembering how his life had changed over the past year, Jain said: “I lost my son and had to flee my shop and old house in Malerkotla for the safety of my younger son. I now live in a rented house in Ludhiana.” His brother, Prem Jain, said: “We were treated as criminals for our filing the complaint.”

“Malerkotla SDM Amit Bambi told us the CBI was working on our case secretly, and would make the findings public when the job was 70% done,” said Prem Jain. Sangrur SSP Mandeep Singh Sidhu said: “The police did their best.”