Bombay HC transfers dowry death probe to CBI, flags ‘major discrepancies’ in police probe | Mumbai News
3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Apr 20, 2026 10:12 PM IST
The Bombay High Court recently transferred a dowry death case registered by Kashimira police station from Mira-Bhayandar near Mumbai in 2023 to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), observing significant discrepancies by the police. The HC said “fair and effective” investigation was required in the case.
The HC was hearing a plea by a social activist, seeking transfer of the probe into his daughter’s death to the central agency, alleging that police had failed to add murder charges against her in-laws.
On April 16, a bench of Justices Sarang V Kotwal and Sandesh D Patil passed a ruling on a plea by the father, argued through advocates Ghanshyam Upadhyay and Vijay Jha, stating that his daughter died under suspicious circumstances in February 2023, over a year after her marriage in November 2021.
The plea claimed that she stayed with her parents till the “Gauna” ceremony was performed as per customs in May 2022 and began residing with her husband and in-laws thereafter. Her parental house was at Malad and her matrimonial house (in-laws’ house) was on Mira Road.
Upadhyay claimed that police were reluctant to register a murder offence against the accused persons. The petitioner claimed that his daughter was continuously harassed and assaulted for dowry and for various other reasons and was forced to suffer a miscarriage, and ultimately she was killed by strangulation.
The FIR claimed various ornaments and cash were given to the accused, and her husband was insisting that the petitioner-father should give him a flat. Even her salary was forcefully taken by her husband, and he would beat and abuse her, the FIR said.
Upadhyay further claimed that in February 2023, the petitioner learnt from his son-in-law that the daughter had hanged herself and was taken to a hospital, where he learnt that she was dead.
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After observing injuries on her body, the petitioner-father approached Kashimira police station, but police allegedly refused to register an FIR and insisted on registering only an Accidental Death Report (ADR).
The lawyer alleged that only after the petitioner approached his community through a social networking site and protests were made against police authorities, an was FIR lodged, under provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act and offences of dowry death and abetment of suicide under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), among others.
The HC bench, after perusing the material on record, observed three “major discrepancies” in the probe in respect of the timing of the inquest panchnama (conducted after death).
“All these discrepancies are undoubtedly significant in the background of the facts and, therefore, we agree with the submissions of the counsel for the petitioner that this is a case wherein the investigation is required to be transferred to the CBI for a fair and effective investigation. Therefore, we are satisfied that the petitioner has made out a case for grant of relief in this petition,” the HC held.
