Firing near Salman Khan house: Bombay High Court says can't blindly order CBI probe into death of accused

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Mumbai police to file a status report on the ongoing inquiries initiated into the death of Anuj Thapan, accused in the case relating to firing near actor Salman Khan's house, who had passed away while under police custody [Anuj Thapan v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.]..All the same, the Court maintained that it cannot "blindly" direct transfer of probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)."We cannot blindly direct transfer the probe to a third party (agency). Let them (State) say there is no FIR. The investigation is going on and then we will see," the bench said.The bench was hearing a petition by Thapan's mother Rita Devi, who claimed that her son was murdered by the Crime Branch of Mumbai police and that he was brutally assaulted and tortured by the police.The petition, filed through advocates Sriram Parakkat and Rajwant Kaur, has prayed for a probe by the CBI into Thapan's death. It has also sought directions for a fresh post mortem of Thapan's body..Public prosecutor Prajakta Shinde argued on Wednesday that an Accidental Death Report (ADR) was registered and the matter is being investigated by the State Crime Investigation Department (CID).Shinde also informed the Court that a magisterial inquiry too has been initiated since Thapan's death happened while under police custody.A vacation court bench of Justices Sandeep Marne and Neela Gokhale then directed Shinde to submit a status report about the progress in the CID investigation and magisterial inquiry..The Court also directed the concerned police station to preserve the CCTV footage and call data records (CDR) of police officers.With these directions, the Court posted the matter for hearing on May 22..Thapan was arrested on April 26 along with three other persons by the crime branch of the Mumbai police for allegedly providing arms to the other accused in connection with the firing outside Khan's house.He was remanded to police custody till April 30. Meanwhile, the police also invoked provisions under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act in the case.On April 29, the police produced the accused including Thapan before the trial court after invoking MCOCA.The court extended the police custody of three accused including Thapan's till May 8 while the remaining accused were remanded to judicial custody on medical grounds.On May 1, it was reported that Thapan had died by suicide, after which his mother filed the present petition before the High Court