HC dismisses petition by Yogita's family

NAGPUR: A division bench of Justices Arun Chaudhari and ZA Haq of Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Kiran Thakre demanding a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the myterious death of her youngest sister, seven-year-old Yogita, in May 2009. Yogita's body was found in a car parked at the residence of former BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
Sources present in the courtroom stated that the High court has rejected the plea of the petitioner, asking her to pursue the matter with the trial court where the matter is pending.This is the second time that Yogita Thakre's murder case has been referred to the high court. On an earlier occasion, the high court had directed the state criminal investigation department (CID) to probe the matter after pointing out that Nagpur police had failed in its investigation of the case.
The lower court had twice rejected the state CID's closure report into the case, criticizing the role of the investigating agency in stringent words. While rejecting state CID's second report in February this year, the magistrate had stated that the court would now treat the case as a private criminal complaint. In a subsequent development, state CID had once again filed an application before the lower court to allow it to probe the matter further on 11 points that its seniors had earmarked for them.
In another development, the Supreme Court, while dealing with a Public interest litigation (PIL) seeking transferring the Yogita Thakre case to CBI, had stated that the trial court would be in a better position to decide on the merit of the case.
Yogita's family members had filed the petition before the high court seeking its intervention to ensure the family gets justice. Activist Jammu Anand, who is helping the Thakres, stated that he now intends to approach the Supreme Court.