The decision of the Uttarakhand government was confirmed to The Indian Express by the state Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pande.

The decision comes following tremendous pressure by the various political parties, civil society and the parents of the deceased. According to sources BJP President Rajnath Singh had also wanted the state government to adhere to the demands being made by the parents and relatives of the deceased Ranbir Singh.

Even the state Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had indicated that he had no reservations about handing the case over to the CBI if the parents of the deceased were not satisfied with the investigations being handled by the state CID. He had been saying,” We want to convey that we have no reservations about a transparent probe into the matter.”

Even the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) while taking a suo moto cognizance of the matter on Monday had asked the state government to hand over the case to the CBI for investigations within three days.

The opposition Congress has welcomed the decision. Senior party leader Suryakant Dhasmana said, “It is better late than never but the government should have handed over the case to the CBI the moment the post mortem report had pointed fingers at the police.”

Human Rights activist PC Tewari said, “A CBI probe in this case is welcome but an independent enquiry in all the cases of encounters needs to be initiated so that the people get to know the true face of ‘Mitr Police’.”

A case being pointed out by the human rights activists in this regard is the killing of an alleged thief by the police on June 14 on the outskirts of Dehradun. The deceased had been identified as Dharamveer Singh of Gandhi Colony in Muzzaffarnagar. Tewari said that the Revenue Police set up in the state must be revamped in Uttarakhand.

Meanwhile, the CID continued with its investigations into the matter on the second consecutive day.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) CID Vijay Raghav Pant said, “We are continuing with our work. We have not received anything in writing to stop doing so or intimating us that the investigations have been handed over to any other agency. These are legal cases and there is a set procedure involved in them.”