Shimla, Sept 16 – A CBI court on Monday sent suspended Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Pankaj Sharma to 10-day judicial custody in connection with the mysterious death of former Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) chief engineer Vimal Negi. Sharma, arrested on September 14 from Ghumarwin in Bilaspur district, has been accused of tampering with crucial evidence in the case.
Sharma was produced before the court where the CBI pressed for custodial interrogation, but the judge remanded him to judicial custody instead. His bail application was also turned down during the proceedings. “Despite the defence argument that he was not required in the case as per the CBI’s own submission before the high court earlier, the plea was rejected,” said Sharma’s counsel after the hearing.
The next hearing in the matter has been scheduled for September 26 and will take place through video conferencing. Sharma will remain under judicial custody until then.
The suspended officer is alleged to have tampered with a pen drive recovered from Negi’s body. Though not part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the case, Sharma reportedly visited the site on the day Negi’s body was found and took possession of the device. Investigators claim he later formatted the pen drive. A local fisherman is said to have recorded Sharma discussing the pen drive with another person on a phone call, which later became key evidence against him.
Sharma’s role in the case has been under scrutiny for months. He was suspended from service on May 19, just four days before the case was officially handed over to the CBI. During the agency’s investigation, he was repeatedly questioned and kept under police security at Police Lines, Kaithu, in Shimla, under CCTV surveillance.
Following a high court directive on September 5, Sharma was later shifted from Kaithu to his government residence in Shimla. He was briefly placed on one-day remand earlier this week before being moved to judicial custody.
Officials involved in the probe maintained that Sharma’s alleged interference with evidence remains central to the investigation into Negi’s death, which continues under the CBI’s supervision.
Read more:CBI arrests ASI in Vimal Negi case
