Parent's plea for CBI probe in whistleblower son's death: SC dismisses case as withdrawn

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the case as withdrawn while responding to the petition filed by the parents of whistleblower Aditya Dash, seeking a direction for a CBI probe, as the Crime Branch of Odisha could not solve his alleged murder.

"We are dismissing the petition as withdrawn," the Division Bench of the Apex Court, headed by Justice Navin Sinha and Justice Krishna Murari said.

Dash was allegedly killed on July 7 last year at Lingaraj Railway Station in Bhubaneswar his parents alleged.

Recently, the Odisha Crime Branch, Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) informed the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that it has asked the law enforcement response team, Facebook Security, California, USA for production of documents with respect to the Facebook account of Aditya Dash.

The CB-CID has also taken a number of steps to solve the case, but, it had not been able to solve the case yet, said Aditya's parents.

Requesting to unearth the mystery over the death of Aditya Dash, a motivational speaker and human rights defender, Supreme Court lawyer and rights activist, Radhakanta Tripathy sought the intervention of the NHRC.

Acting on the complaint filed by Tripathy, the NHRC passed the order and stated, "The Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar and Additional DG of Police, CB-CID, Odisha, Cuttack are directed to file the report within eight weeks positively, failing which the Commission shall be constrained to invoke the provisions of Section 13 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993."

"The Government Railway Police (GRP) had registered a murder case over the issue. As wife and friends of the deceased are engaged in mudslinging, the cloak of mystery is yet to be lifted from the death of the social worker, who was receiving threats from criminals as he launched an anti-liquor agitation", Tripathy said.

( With inputs from ANI )