Punjab and Haryana High Court directs CBI to take over 2009 murder case as District Police failed to solve

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently directed the State of Punjab to hand over the 2009 murder case of Airtel general manager Sameer Vats to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The bench of Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj was dealing with a petition filed by Vat's father where he contended that as the investigating wing of the district police had not been able to solve the mystery of the murder of his son, the same should be handed over to the CBI.

Court noted that the prayer was not opposed by the State counsel. Accordingly, the case was handed over. 

Vats was shot in the head from point-blank range on March 12, 2009 in front of a hospital in Mohali and he died a week later.

A case under Sections 307, 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Phase 7 police station, SAS Nagar, Mohali on the day of the incident. Though the police formed special teams to probe the case, till now it continues to be an unsolvable puzzle. 

In a status report dated May 10, 2022, filed by the Sr. Superintendent of Police, SAS Nagar (Mohali) before the high court, it was submitted that "no breakthrough in the present case could be achieved by the police despite the strenuous and sincere efforts."

Thereafter, Vat's father, Col Surinder Kumar Vats (retd), prayed for the case transfer to CBI. 

As per a report in Hindustan Times, Vats recieved a phone call asking him to come near Dussehra ground in Mohali. The place was close to the hospital where his wife worked. Vats was in his car while his brother-in-law, Sandeep Kumar, was 100 meters away when he was shot in the head. 

The report states that during the polygraphic test, Sandeep Kumar revealed that Vats asked him to accompany while telling that some unknown persons had asked him to meet. Kumar told that upon reaching the designated place, he and Vats stayed in their respective cars which were parked at a distance from each other. 

Kumar said that after a few minutes, when he called Vats to ask him to leave the spot, Vats did not pick up his phone and when he went to Vat's car, he found him lying unconscious.

In his test, Sandeep also said that his sister Simrat had a shaky marriage with Vats and for some time, she had stayed with her parents, but later started living with her husband again.