CBI takes over probe into murder of Kawardha Rajmata’s nephew

Raipur: The CBI has taken over investigation of the murder of Viswanath Nair, nephew of Rajmata of the erstwhile princely state of Kawardha, following a direction from Chhattisgarh high court.
“A case has been registered and the central agency will begin its investigation soon,” an official said.
Nair was found murdered in a farmhouse in Kabirdham district in August last year.The state police, which investigated the murder, had arrested five suspects, including four minors, and claimed that robbery was the motive.
The victim’s wife, Jyoti Nair, questioned the police findings and moved high court, seeking a probe by an independent agency. Early last month, the bench of Justice Rajani Dubey directed CBI to investigate the case and, if necessary, file an additional chargesheet.
The central agency has been asked to seize and collect all records pertaining to the case and SIM details of the mobile phones of the accused, victim and suspects as early as possible. The order said the CBI shall make all possible endeavours to complete a fair and independent investigation at the earliest, stating that it is free to approach the court if it needs any further direction.
According to the petition, Nair was the nephew of Prabha Devi — Rajmata of Kawardha and former MLA from Kawardha constituency (1977 to 1980 for Akhil Bharatiya Ramrajya Parishad and 1985 to 1990 for Congress). She was a highly influential person with crores of property in Kawardha district, the petition says.
The writ petition says that there were major differences between Rajmata and her son Yogeshwar Raj Singh and she was quite close to her nephew Vishwanath Nair. It stated that the Rajmata had executed a will, transferring all her property to both her daughters and Nair, and giving no share to her son Yogeshwar Raj Singh.
After the Rajmata’s death, her daughters reposed the same faith in Nair for managing and administering not only their properties but also of Rajmata’s, the petition says. On the night of August 27 last year, when Nair was sleeping in the farmhouse, he was brutally murdered.
The petition marks Yogeshwar and his wife Kirti Devi Singh as respondents. The petitioners submitted that they had told police about the “animosity” between Nair and Yogeshwar, but this angle wasn’t investigated. The petitioners say they suspect it was a contract killing and had pleaded with police to collect call details of the five arrested suspects and the two respondents, but to no avail.