CBI yet to take over Ruchika case, waiting for FIR copies

NEW DELHI - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not taken over the case against former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore for molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra in 1990 as the probe agency is yet to receive copies of the fresh FIRs filed.

We have not received papers regarding fresh First Information Reports (FIRs) against Rathore from the state government, a CBI official told IANS here.

The official said the case was in principle with the Haryana police and they have to decide about Rathore’s custodial interrogation.

We are yet to take over the case. We will decide on our line of action only after we get the FIR copies, the official said.

An official in the ministry of personnel and public grievances said the government was studying the legal implications of Rathore’s potential arrest.

The CBI comes under the jurisdiction of the ministry of personnel and public grievances.

An official in the ministry said the CBI will take over the case in a few days.

Haryana police earlier this week recommended that the CBI take over the case after Rathore was accused of abetment to suicide in Ruchika’s death.

On Friday, a Haryana court rejected the bail plea of Rathore. Ruchika committed suicide in 1993 - three years after her molestation - due to continual harassment of her and her family by Rathore after she filed molestation charges against him.

Rathore was given a six-month jail term last month for the molestation, triggering an outcry over the apparently light sentence, which came 19 years after the molestation. A fresh case of abetment to suicide was filed against Rathore last week.