CBI accuses officers of meddling in probe

KOCHI: Giving a new twist to the Sampath custodial death case, the CBI has submitted before the Central Administrative Tribunal that “the two CBI officers who were transferred from its Thiruvananthapuram unit fabricated evidence to implicate certain persons as accused in the Sampath case.”CBI Thiruvananthapuram SP V K Raghukumar filed the counter-affidavit on a petition filed by the two inspectors transferred - S Unnikrishnan and K K Rajan - after their names found a mention in the suicide note of ASP Haridath, the former investigation officer of the sensational Sampath case.The two officers had approached the court seeking to quash the transfer order.The CBI justified its decision to transfer the officials and submitted that the case diary will reveal the unscrupulous intention of the duo to illegally implicate certain persons as accused.The two cops have played a role in Sampath case and if they are allowed to continue with the investigation, it will affect the investigation into the Samapth murder case as well as the suicide of Haridath, CBI submitted.The CAT had asked the CBI to maintain status quo till June 12 on the transfer of its inspectors to Guwahati and Kolkata.The CAT also directed the CBI that petitioners should not be forced to join at new locations. The petitioners had contended that the transfer order was issued as part of the superior officers’ plan to exonerate two top IPS officers- Vijay Sakhare and Muhammed Yasin from the Sampath custodial murder case.Under the cover of Haridath’s suicide note, the CBI top cops have transferred the duo, they said. They also submitted that the Kerala High Court had ordered that neither ASP Nandakumar Nair nor Chennai Joint Director Ashok Kumar should interfere with the probe. However, the officials were permitted to continue in the same position, they said.The petitioners had said that the higher officials in the CBI are responsible for Haridath’s death. The case diary was manipulated with the knowledge of the higher- ups to save the IPS officers.However, the CBI said that investigation in the Sampath case was almost over and service of the two officers is not required anymore.