CBI takes over probe into Munde's death

The Central Bureau of Investigation has taken over the probe into the death of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde following a road accident in Delhi.

Sources said a case has been registered by the agency after it took over the probe from Delhi Police.

They said that the home ministry recommended handing over of the case to the agency after a number of political leaders demanded a CBI probe into the fatal accident of Munde, who had just taken charge as the rural development minister in the Narendra Modi government.

Sixty four-year-old Munde, a popular backward class leader from Maharashtra, was on his way to Indira Gandhi Airport on June 3 when his car was hit by another vehicle at the Prithviraj Road-Tughlak Road roundabout in the heart of the national capital.

Munde died due to shock and haemorrhage following injuries to his neck and liver in the road accident.

Delhi Police had registered a case against 32-year-old Gurvinder Singh, the driver whose car hit Munde's vehicle.

BJP leaders from Maharashtra, including former party president Nitin Gadkari, had sought a CBI inquiry into Munde's death.

Munde's daughter and MLA Pankaja Munde Palve had in a statement urged the deceased leader's supporters not to fall prey to those trying to make political capital out of the tragedy.

"I have spoken to (party leaders) regarding the CBI inquiry and I trust Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I am confident he will show the direction in the face of various theories doing the rounds regarding my father's death," she had said after Munde's demise.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar had also asked Modi to initiate a CBI probe into the incident to bring out the "facts" and assuage the feelings of the BJP leader's supporters.