Supreme Court quashes Delhi HC verdict, orders CBI probe into death of Manipuri woman

Guwahati: In a major development, the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take up the mysterious death of a 25-year-old Manipuri woman in a rented accommodation in the Chirag Dilli area of New Delhi in 2013.

The body of the deceased, A S Reingamphi, was discovered on May 29, 2013, by the landlord of the tenanted premises who alerted the Police Control Room at 11 am on the same day.

The cause of death could not be ascertained in the post-mortem report.

The FIR was registered at the Malviya Nagar police station against unknown accused persons under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The investigation was transferred to the Malviya Nagar Crime Branch, and pursuant to representations by her cousins, an offence under Section 302 (murder) of IPC was added.

Later, two cousins of the deceased woman filed a petition in the Delhi High Court praying for direction for the investigation to be given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The high court dismissed the plea saying the investigation had been carried out by the investigating agency seemingly without any bias and nothing has emerged on record if the landlord Raj Kumar and his brother-in-law Amit Sharma had a strong connection with any politician to influence the investigation.

The deceased woman’s cousins Awungshi Chirmayo and Thotreithem Longpinao challenged the high court order in the apex court, which in 2019 constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to monitor the investigation.

The SIT in its report concluded that the woman had committed suicide by consuming some poison or medicine, though the viscera reports did not reveal the presence of any common poison or medicine in the Exhibits.

The Supreme Court however said apparently there seems to be no reason for a young girl of 25 years of age to commit suicide.

“Prima facie it does not seem to be a case of suicide. The crime scene shows that blood was spattered on the floor and the bed sheet was completely drenched in blood. It appears to be a homicidal death and, therefore, the culprits must be apprehended,” the apex court said.

A bench of justices J K Maheshwari and Sudhanshu Dhulia set aside an order of the Delhi High Court which had dismissed the plea of her cousins to transfer the investigation to the CBI.