New Delhi, Dec 12: The Supreme Court on Thursday constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the unnatural death of Nilesh Adivasi, a Scheduled Caste youth from Madhya Pradesh, after noting contradictory versions given by his widow and brother regarding the circumstances that led to the tragedy.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed the Director General of Police, Madhya Pradesh, to form the SIT within two days. The court said the team should be headed by an IPS officer of SP rank from the Madhya Pradesh cadre “but having no roots in the State”, and include a young IPS officer with no roots in MP and a woman police officer of DySP rank.
The SIT has been directed to take over all records and connected FIRs and complete the investigation within one month.
The bench said the differing narratives from the victim’s widow and brother made an independent probe essential. “There are, thus, two different and contradictory versions that emanate from the close family members of the deceased with respect to the cause of his death,” the court observed. The circumstances, it said, “undoubtedly warrant a dispassionate, fair, independent and impartial investigation into the cause of death of Nilesh Adivasi.”
According to the widow, Adivasi died by suicide following “torture and harassment” by a former state Home Minister and his associates. The brother, however, alleged that one Govind Singh Rajput and others were responsible for the unnatural death. The bench noted that “the ultimate issue is whether the victim committed suicide, whether he was forced to commit suicide, or whether it was murder”.
The FIR in the case was registered on September 4, 2025, under Section 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 3(2)(i)(v) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. It was also submitted before the court that videos had surfaced showing the victim bleeding in a hotel room after an alleged abduction.
Stating that the local police seemed unable to take the investigation to its logical conclusion, the bench warned that “any further delay… will be detrimental to the interests of the victim’s family as the pendency of the investigation might lead to destruction of evidence and/or influencing the witnesses.”
While declining to hand over the probe to the CBI, the court said the agency’s “hands are already full” and transferring the case to it “might cause inordinate and undesirable delay”. The court invoked its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to expand the scope of the proceedings and order the constitution of the SIT.
The order came on a petition filed by Govind Singh Rajput challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s refusal to grant him anticipatory bail. The bench clarified that the petitioner is not the MLA with the same name.
As an interim measure, the court stayed Rajput’s arrest, directing him to furnish bail bonds before the jurisdictional magistrate. It added that the SIT would be free to seek the Supreme Court’s permission for custodial interrogation if “incriminating material of grave nature” emerges during the probe.
The court also directed the SIT to ensure the protection of the victim’s widow, Rewa Adivasi, his brother Neeraj Adivasi, and other witnesses, and to ensure they are not intimidated or influenced by any party.
