Shimla, May 27- The Vimal Negi death case has heated up here. After the CBI registered a case in this matter, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Onkar Sharma, Director General of Police Atul Verma and Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi have been sent on leave today. All this has happened at a time when the CBI had registered an FIR in the case of Vimal Negi's death and Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu held a meeting with the top officials this evening. It has also been informed that a show cause notice will be issued to them.
Earlier on Monday, Chief Minister Sukhu, while answering questions about the officers involved in the investigation into the death of HPPCL engineer Vimal Negi, had said that indiscipline of the officers will not be tolerated. His statement comes after Shimla SP Gandhi recently held a press conference and made serious allegations against DGP Verma and others. The DGP later wrote to ACS (Home) seeking the suspension of the SP. The Chief Minister expressed his displeasure over the ongoing tussle between DGP Verma and SP Gandhi and the fact that ACS (Home) bypassed the Advocate General's office while submitting his fact-finding report. It is worth noting that Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi had accused Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police Atul Verma of filing a misleading status report. The case relates to the death of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited's Chief Engineer Vimal Negi, in which question marks were raised on the SIT probe. Mr. Gandhi alleged that attempts were made to obstruct the investigation in several cases in this regard.
According to reports, SP Gandhi, who led the SIT investigation into Negi's mysterious death, levelled allegations of misconduct against the DGP and his staff in a press conference a day after the Himachal Pradesh High Court transferred the case to the CBI. There was no immediate reaction from the DGP in this regard. It is worth noting that Negi, the chief engineer of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited, went missing on March 10 and his body was found on March 18. His wife Kiran Negi alleged that her seniors had harassed her for the last six months and she had demanded a CBI probe.