The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation an additional three months to complete its probe into the death of a 34-year-old man who died while in custody in Chhattisgarh, a case that first came before the court in 2024.
In a confidential filing submitted under sealed-cover procedure, the investigating agency informed the two-judge bench — comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta — that additional time was required before the inquiry could be concluded.
An earlier ruling issued on August 12 had assigned the CBI responsibility for examining the circumstances surrounding the death of Shravan Suryavanshi, who was held at Bilaspur Central Jail at the time of his death in 2024. Under that same order, the state was directed to pay his wife and children compensation of Rs 25 lakh. The bench had also directed the CBI director to ensure that a formal criminal complaint was filed against those found responsible for the death.
A three-month extension was granted to the investigating agency to complete its inquiry, with the bench scheduling the next hearing for 2 February.
In its August 12 ruling, the bench characterised the explanation put forward — that neither police action nor disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against those at fault on the grounds that the judicial inquiry report had not yet been served on the officers concerned — as a deliberate attempt to mislead the court rather than a genuine explanation.
The court determined that an FIR was to be registered without delay and that a full inquiry into Suryavanshi's death was warranted, noting that state authorities had made deliberate attempts to obstruct that process. The bench expressed the view that the inquiry into Shravan's death in custody be handed to the CBI, and that any officials found responsible for custodial violence face prosecution under the law once that inquiry concluded.
The ruling under review was prompted by a petition filed by Suryavanshi's wife and children, contesting a Chhattisgarh High Court order from October 2024 that found he had been subjected to custodial violence and died as a result. That petition before the High Court had sought Rs 50 lakh in compensation and disciplinary action against the officers implicated in the custodial death.
The Supreme Court noted that the petitioners had been awarded only Rs 1 lakh by the High Court — a sum the court found inadequate — while the request for accountability proceedings against officers linked to the death in custody had not been addressed.
Suryavanshi had been taken into custody by officers acting on a complaint registered in Bilaspur under the provisions of the Chhattisgarh Excise Act. The FIR states that three bottles totalling 6 litres of unprocessed mahua liquor, valued at Rs 1,200, were recovered from his possession.
According to the FIR, Suryavanshi was held at Central Jail in Bilaspur, and after his physical condition deteriorated, prison authorities arranged his transfer to a hospital on 21 January 2024. He received treatment the following day but did not survive.
The apex court noted that Suryavanshi was under state detention at the time of his death, and that the jail superintendent had already written to the district and sessions judge to request that a formal judicial inquiry be conducted into the circumstances of the custodial death. A judicial magistrate of the first class in Bilaspur was directed by the court to conduct an inquiry under Section 176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. A report filed by the judicial magistrate on 22 July 2024 attributed the death to complications linked to a head injury.
