'Dead' murder accused: HC raps Delhi, UP police for blame game

New Delhi, May 22: A murder accused who masterminded his disappearance by getting himself declared dead was taken note of by the Delhi High Court today, which criticised the police of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for indulging in a blame game rather than collectively trying to track him down.

The accused had allegedly connived with his family members and some cops to get an unclaimed body identified as his and jumped bail during pendency of his appeal against his conviction.

"We find that both of them (Delhi and UP police) are trying to find fault with each other in the manner of investigation and steps which were required to be taken to expose and unearth the well-hatched conspiracy which had led to the identification of a dead body to be that of appellant Rajbir.

"Be that as it may, instead of shifting blame to each other, we wish Delhi and UP police should put their collective efforts not only to trace out appellant, but also to unearth conspiracy and persons involved in the same as this a very serious issue where appellant after being released on bail by this court avoided clutches of the law and the process he has masterminded the said conspiracy..," the court said.

A special bench of justices Kailash Gambhir and Sunita Gupta asked the Delhi and UP police to appoint a senior officer each "to make efforts to unearth the conspiracy and to work towards apprehension of the accused-appellant Rajbir".

The officers have been asked to file a fresh status report after carrying out the exercise as directed by the court, which also issued fresh non-bailable warrants against Rajbir. The bench made the observations and passed the order after perusing the status reports filed by both agencies which have blamed each other for the situation.

PTI