Swami Saswathikananda death: Family to move court for probe by another agency

Kochi: Though the government has ordered a Crime Branch probe into the unnatural death of Swami Saswathikananda, his aggrieved family has no confidence in the probe. The family members are planning to move Kerala High Court seeking a probe by an agency other than the Crime Branch.

“For the past several years I have been visiting the CB officers. Till date, we have not received a positive reply from the police team,” said Santhakumari, sister of Saswathikananda.

So far, eight crime branch SPs have conducted a probe into the death, but the final report filed in 2013 was just an eyewash, she said. No proper investigation was conducted into the case, she added.

Fresh FIR needed
Meanwhile, experts called for a time-bound probe into the death of Saswathikananda. “The government should have registered a fresh crime and a fresh FIR should be filed,” said lawyer S. Rajeev.

“The Fort Kochi SDM court is toothless as the Code of Criminal Procedure is silent about the power of sub -divisional magistrate in accepting or rejecting the final report submitted by the police in a crime registered under the category unnatural death. The SDM court also has no power to order a further investigation if the probe is not conducted in a right manner,” he added.

“A skeletal report like the one filed before Fort Kochi SDM court will do no good to the investigation,” he said.

Top police sources claimed that Biju Ramesh, the 114th witness in the earlier final report, will remain a witness in the case.