Custodial death: CBI to add Sec. 377

But agency says it will drop murder charge as no material found to show Agnelo Valdaris was killed

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court that eight Government Railway Police (GRP) officers will be booked for unnatural sex in the custodial death case of 24-year-old Agnelo Valdaris in April 2014.

A Division Bench of Justices Ranjit More and A.S. Gadkari was hearing a petition filed by Agnelo’s father, Leonard Valdaris. Agnelo was arrested by the Wadala railway police in April 2014 for allegedly snatching a gold chain. The police had said he was run over by a train while trying to escape, but Leonard claimed he died due to torture while in police custody.

Additional Government Pleader Hiten Venegavkar, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), told the bench that while Section 377 (unnatural offences) along with Section 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the Indian Penal Code will be added against the officials, Section 302 (punishment for murder) will have to be dropped as the agency has found no material that says Agnelo was killed.

HC calls for relook

He added that the CBI found evidence that Agnelo was physically and sexually abused, therefore a supplementary charge sheet will soon be filed in the trial court. The court told the CBI to take a relook at the evidence before filing the charge sheet.

The court observed there is evidence to show murder in the said case, and directed senior counsel Yug Choudhary, appearing for Leonard Valdaris, to argue on CBI dropping the murder charge after four weeks.

In the last hearing, the court had said, “there is prima facie material against the police officials which discloses charges of murder, culpable homicide and unnatural sex” and said that the CBI had not invoked the proper charges.

The agency had booked the GRP officials under the said charges, but had not chargesheeted them for same.

Previously, the CBI said this was not a case of Section 302 or Section 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.