Ghaziabad: Dasna jail authorities on Tuesday
began an enquiry into the mysterious death of Ashutosh
Asthana, the prime accused in the multi-crore PF scam
allegedly involving some judges.
DIG (Jail) A K Panda visited the district jail here and
recorded the statements of the inmates in the barrack in which
Asthana was lodged under judicial custody, Jail Superintendent
V K Singh said.
Meanwhile, the UP government`s decision to conduct a
judicial probe into Asthana`s death has been referred to
District Judge (Ghaziabad) V D Gupta to decide whether he or
someone else will conduct the enquiry, District Magistrate R
Ramesh Kumar said.
Asthana, a treasury officer at the Ghaziabad court, was
named the prime accused in the Rs 23 crore scam in which the
names of 36 judges of various courts, including one from the
Supreme Court, had cropped up. He was found dead under
mysterious circumstances in Dasna jail on Saturday.
The state government had yesterday ordered multi-level
probes into the incident.
The District Magistrate said that since Asthana was in
judicial custody, a magisterial enquiry is "not enough" and a
judicial probe is "unavoidable".
SSP Akhil Kumar denied reports that a case has been
lodged into the matter, saying it will be done only when it is
established that Asthana`s death was unnatural.
The issue also figured before the Supreme Court which
directed that the judicial magistrate enquiring into the
circumstances leading to Asthana`s death shall submit his
report to it within eight weeks.
Bureau Report
