To ensure impartiality, High Court hands over probe into Vimal Negi’s death to CBI

The HP High Court today handed over the investigation into the death of Vimal Negi, Chief Engineer of HP Power Corporation Ltd (HPPCL), to the CBI. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel ordered that “in the course of the conduct of the said investigation, the CBI shall ensure that no officer from the Himachal Pradesh cadre shall be part of the special investigation team that it may constitute for investigation.”

The court allowed the petition filed by Kiran Negi, wife of Vimal Negi, seeking the transfer of investigation to the CBI. It observed that “to give credence to the investigation so that the matter is investigated impartially, this court allows the petition and directs the state police to hand over the investigation into the matter to the CBI”.

The court observed that “this court is of the considered view that the mode and manner in which the government dealt with the report of the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) raises serious questions. First of all, when the Secretary (Power) had called upon the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to hold a fact-finding inquiry and the officer had done so, the state ought to have had acted upon it dispassionately, rather than becoming a mouthpiece of delinquent officers so as to propagate their cause. Once the officer had submitted his report, the competent authority could have had furnished the inquiry report to the delinquent officers and sought their response thereto. However, rather than doing this, the state chose to sit over the same and ensured that the inquiry report does not see the light of the day”.

The court stated that “incidentally, the SIT, which the Superintendent of Police, Shimla, had constituted on March 19, 2025, to investigate Vimal Negi’s death also conveniently chose not to seek a copy of the report from the officer concerned”.

The court observed that “this court is appalled by the mode and manner in which the investigation indeed is going on in terms of the affidavit filed by the Superintendent of Police, Shimla. It appears as if the SIT is of the view that its job is to investigate whether deceased Vimal Negi ended his life for the simple reason that he was being subjected to an improper behaviour by Desh Raj, Director (Electrical), and Harikesh Meena, Managing Director. The affidavit is conspicuously silent as to what investigation the SIT has carried out till date from the angle that Vimal Negi was pressured by his superiors for extraneous reasons to help a project proponent. Why so?, this only the SIT can answer. Had the SIT been prudent to investigate the issue from the perspective of the petitioner and had the SIT investigated the matter from the perspective of the statements of the officers/officials of the HPPCL, who had corroborated that Vimal Negi was being harassed and pressured by his seniors for extraneous reasons, the situation would not have arisen for the petitioner to knock the doors of justice”.

Justice Goel stated that “this all demonstrates that whereas the SIT is claiming that it is carrying out the investigation in a correct perspective, the Director General of Police, Himachal Pradesh, however, has his disagreements with the same. Not only this, the mode and manner in which the investigation is being carried out by the SIT, prima facie is also not in sync with what has come in the inquiry report of the Additional Chief Secretary (Home). This court is refraining itself from making any further observation in this regard. To say the least, if the Director General of Police of the state himself has a concern about the fairness of the investigation, then even if the SIT is carrying out the investigation in the right earnest, it shall never instill confidence whatever may be the report of the SIT”.

Timeline 2025

  • March 10: Vimal Negi, Chief Engineer (HPPCL), goes missing after attending office in Shimla
  • March 18: His body found in Gobind Sagar Lake in Bilaspur district
  • March 19: Body sent to AIIMS, Bilaspur, for a post-mortem examination
  • March 19: FIR registered on the complaint of Negi’s family against three officers of the HPPCL
  • March 19: Inquiry by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Onkar Sharma ordered, report sought within 15 days
  • April 8: Additional Chief Secretary (Home) submits the inquiry report to the Secretary (Power)
  • April 22: Case by family seeking a CBI inquiry listed before the High Court of Himachal Pradesh
  • May 14: Secretary (Power) writes to Onkar Sharma to review the inquiry report
  • May 15: Additional Chief Secretary (Home) rejects the plea for a review of the inquiry report to add statements of the accused officers
  • May 20: DGP files a status report in the High Court, accusing the SSP, Shimla, of trying to influence probe
  • May 20: Additional Chief Secretary (Home) submits the inquiry report in the High Court of Himachal
  • May 21: The High Court reserves order in the case
  • May 23: High Court orders handing over of the investigation in the case to the CBI

Himachal Tribune