CBI to probe trainee airhostess death

RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the mysterious death of a trainee airhostess in May this year. The court also pulled up the state police for dilly-dallying the investigation process. A division bench comprising Chief JusticeGyan Sudha Misra and Justice DK Sinha also asked the department to takedisciplinary action against investigating officer Neeraj Kumar Mishra.Maushmi Choudhary, a trainee airhostess at Aha Airhostess TrainingInstitute in Sakchi, Jamshedpur, was on deputation at Hotel Sonet at Bistupuralong with 10 other students. On May 9, her scarf got reportedly stuck in thewashing machine in the hotel as a result of which she suffered strangulation.She was resportedly rescued by the staff and rushed to a hospital, where after10 days she died. The bench adopted a strong approach after TapshiChoudhary, mother of Maushmi, met the chief justice. Soon her plea for a CBIprobe was converted into a PIL. Claiming the police were initilaly reluctant toregister an FIR, Tapshi alleged on Saturday the case involved influentialpeople. On Wednesday, the court pulled up the police for severalshortcomings in recording Maushmi's statement. Counsel PAS Pati questioned thevalidity of the autopsy report, which mentioned injuries made by a hard andblunt object. He stressed that police seized the victim's clothes but did notuse it in the probe. "These could have provided vital clues but policedeliberately tried to portray the incident as an accident," he added.