CBI drops murder charges in the Nido Taniam case

The seven people charged with the killing of the Nido Taniam, a BA first year student in a private university, in New Delhi will not face murder charges anymore. They will, instead, face charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, illegal confinement and offences under the SC/ST atrocities.

Taniam is the son of Arunachal Pradesh’s Congress MLA Nido Pavitra. After the incident, Pavitra met with Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and requested a speedy justice which resulted in the file being transferred to the CBI. The CBI after investigating concluded that Tania’s death was a result of altercation over the breaking of a glass counter.

Tania had gone to Lajpat nagar with a couple of friends on January 29 and asked for directions at a dairy for a common friend’s place. The men present there laughed at him and humiliated him. This ended up in a brawl with Tania recieveing some injuries. He succumbed to his injuries on January 30. The post-mortem reports show the cause of death as cerebro pulmonary edema caused by a blunt weapon.

Out of the accused three were juveniles and four were adults(Farman, Sunder, Pawan, Sunny Uppal). Proceedings against the juvelies will be undertaken by the Juvenile Justice Court.

The CBI’s Special Crime Unit, which was conducting the investigations, carried out all the necessary tests on the accused and all forensic requirements were fulfilled before they filed their report.