The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday detained suspended assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Pankaj Sharma in the case of the mysterious death of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (HPPCL) chief engineer Vimal Negi. This is the first arrest made in the matter.
Sharma is accused of tampering with a pen drive recovered from Negi’s body, which was seen as a crucial piece of evidence. Negi had gone missing on March 10 this year, and his body was found eight days later in a lake in Bilaspur. His wife had alleged that Negi had been under constant harassment from his seniors.
According to the allegations, Sharma not only hid the pen drive found from Negi’s body but also formatted it. He had been kept under police protection for 90 days, which was withdrawn only last week.
A senior CBI officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “ASI Pankaj Sharma was arrested on Sunday. He will be presented before the special CBI court tomorrow. The investigation is still on.”
Negi’s post-mortem showed he had died about five days before his body was recovered, indicating he may have been alive until March 13. But the special investigation team (SIT) of Himachal Pradesh Police failed to trace his movements between March 10 and 14. This raised doubts about the fairness of the initial probe. Later, the Himachal High Court handed the case over to the CBI on May 23.
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