UP bizman death case: CBI fails to find the motive

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team probing the mysterious death of Kanpur businessman Manish Gupta at a hotel in Gorakhpur during a police raid, have not found any motive behind the crime.

The accused policemen, sources said, are now likely to be charged with culpable homicide.

The CBI team carried out detailed probe, collected evidence and recorded the statements of the friends of the deceased Kanpur businessman present in the hotel room with him during police raid, but the murder charge could not be supported, while there was no logical motive for the crime.

The CBI found that the policemen had a heated argument with the businessman during which he fell and suffered fatal head injuries.

Investigations, however, found evidence of 'excessive use of power' by the policemen and the charge sheet to be submitted soon will contain all details, sources said.

The CBI team found that though the businessman died following use of force, the sequence of events, nature of injuries, and absence of any possible motive does not suggest that the intention was to cause death.

On November 2, CBI had initially registered a case of murder against six policemen, three named and three unidentified.

It may be recalled that on September 27, Ramgarh Tal inspector J.N. Singh, Phalmandi police post in-charge sub-inspectors Akshay Mishra and Vijay Yadav and three other policemen had allegedly barged into the hotel room where businessman Manish Gupta was staying with his friends.

The policemen allegedly thrashed them after an argument during which Gupta died.

All the six policemen named in the FIR are currently in jail.

A CBI officer privy to the probe said the sequence of events was examined by forensic experts to know the pattern and nature of injuries, while call detail records of all the accused policemen were also checked to know if they had any prior connection with the victim, but no such link was found.

The CBI team also took Gupta's friends Pradeep Chauhan and Hardeep Chauhan to the hotel and recreated the crime scene to match their statements to know what exactly took place inside the room on the fateful day.

The officer further said that the investigative agency will, however, recommend disciplinary action against senior Gorakhpur policemen who had commented on Gupta's death.