Overview
- Acting on a petition by his mother, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela transferred the case to the CBI after faulting three Delhi Police–led probes as "lackadaisical," "myopic" and lacking bona fide.
- Citing advances in forensic science and examples like the Golden State and Green River cases, the court said it is "never too late to search for truth."
- The CBI must investigate the death and separately inquire into possible lapses by officers, including delayed seizure of the only other occupant’s phone and deleted call or message records.
- Prior inquiries by local police, the Crime Branch and an SIT "merely parroted" a suicide narrative without analytical or scientific scrutiny, the order stated.
- Duggal, a 23-year-old hotel manager, died in 2017 at Megha Tiwary’s Dwarka residence; the court noted probable asphyxia from antemortem hanging but no established reason for suicide and said abetment was not examined.