Rizwanur case: Abetment to suicide charge for Todi ,SC Sets Aside Order Asking CBI To Probe Murder

New Delhi: Hosiery magnate Ashok Todi will be tried for allegedly intimidating Rizwanur Rehman and abeting his suicide a month after he married his daughter Priyanka in Kolkata in August 2007, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.
A Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan set aside a recent order of the Calcutta High Court directing CBI to investigate the murder angle in the death of Rizwanur. The CBI had appealed against it saying no fresh probe was required as it had conducted a thorough probe and found that Todi had allegedly intimidated and forced Rizwanur to commit suicide.
With this the trial in the Rizwanur death case will commence against Todi, who will with other accused face charges under Sections 120B (conspiracy), 306 (abetment to suicide attracting a maximum sentence of 10 years jail term) and 506 (criminal intimidation punishable with maximum seven years imprisonment) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Computer graphics engineer Rizwanur married Priyanka on August 18, 2007 under the Special Marriage Act as her parents were against the relationship. On August 31, Priyanka went to Rizwanur’s house and started living there. Todi, his brother Pradeep and Priyanka’s maternal uncle Anil Sarogi immediately started making attempts to bring the girl back home and threatened Rizwanur and his family.
On September 8, the police handed over Priyanka to her parents. But when she was not allowed to return to Rizwanur as promised, he allegedly committed suicide. His body was found on the railway tracks between Dumdum and Bidhan Nagar Road stations on September 21.
The mother and brother of Rizwanur moved the HC, which on October 16, 2007 directed a CBI probe. The agency chargesheeted Ashok Todi, Pradeep Todi, Anil Sarogi, S M Mohiuddin aka Pappu and police officers Sukanti Chakraborti, Krishnendu Das and Ajoy Kumar. Todi appealed against the HC single judge Bench order before a division Bench, which on May 18 last year had asked CBI to start the probe afresh and register a murder case. The CBI and accused had appealed against this order in the Supreme Court.