Walkout in MP Assy over ''shielding'' IPS officer

Bhopal, Mar 16 (UNI) Non-Congress opposition members today staged a walkout in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly alleging that the BJP government was shielding an Indian Police Service officer and scuttling an investigation into the ''murder'' of a lady police sub-inspector who complained of sexual harassment in Bhind town.

Replying to the debate on a call-attention motion moved by Mr Arif Aqueel (Cong), Mr Ramlakhan Sharma (CPI-M) and Dr Sunilam (SP), Minister of State for Home Nagendra Singh denied that the postmortem report, mentioning suicide as cause of death, was manipulated in collusion with doctors.

He said a case under the Indian Penal Code's Section 306 (abetment of suicide) and 201 (destruction of evidence) was registered against the then Superintendent of Police, Bhind, Rajababu Singh on December 27, 2006, after a team headed by Inspector-General (Crime Investigation Department) Reena Mitra, sent from police headquarters, made preliminary investigations into the death of Chetna Sharma, whose body bearing a gunshot wound, was found at her residence on November 30 last year.

The opposition members alleged that former Congress MP Kedarnath Sharma's daughter Chetna was murdered, her body wrapped in a quilt and dumped at her residence to make it seem like suicide.

The non-Congress members also trooped into the well and raised slogans demanding the arrest of the officer, who has since been shifted to Indore.

Claiming that the issue was sub judice, Mr Nagendra Singh said that the case diary was in the possession of the government advocate following a directive of the Madhya Pradesh High Court's Gwalior Bench, which heard a plea by the victim's father who sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.

''Investigation by the CBI or other agencies would depend on the court's directive,'' the Minister said.

The authenticity of a letter, purportedly written by Ms Sharma complaining of sexual harassment allegedly by the officer, was being investigated.

Dr Sunilam contested the Minister's claim that people were not anguished over the murder by saying that demonstrations, sit-in and other protests were organised by civil rights groups demanding a CBI probe and the officer's arrest.

Mr Arjun Palia (SP) and Dr I M P Verma (BSP) also took part in the discussion.

UNI