Amid protests over death of a school teacher in Haryana, CM announces to hand over the probe to CBI

In the wake of continuous outrage over the death of a 19-year-old teacher under mysterious circumstances in Haryana’s Bhiwani a week ago, Chief Minister Nayab Saini on Wednesday (August 20, 2025) said the probe into the case would be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

“Based on the family’s demand, the Haryana government is going to hand over the case to the CBI for impartial probe. Full justice will be ensured in the matter,” said Mr. Saini in a post on his official “X” account in the early hours. Saying that he himself was continuously monitoring the reports of the case, Mr. Saini wrote that the “State government and the police administration are working with full seriousness and transparency” to ensure justice for “our daughter Manisha”.

The third post-mortem was conducted on her body at All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon as per the demand of the family, who had raised doubts over the two post-mortem reports with conflicting findings.

After both demands of the family were met, they agreed to perform her last rites on Thursday morning.

Amid heightened tension, the State government had on Tuesday (August 19, 2025) morning suspended mobile internet services, bulk SMS and all dongle services for 48 hours in Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri districts.

The decomposed body of the woman, a resident of Bhiwani’s Singhani village, was found in the fields on August 13, which was two days after she had gone missing from outside a nursing college. It sparked off suspicion of murder and the family, along with the locals, staged a demonstration seeking the arrest of the culprits and refused to cremate the body.

On August 15, the Chief Minister ordered the transfer of the Bhiwani Superintendent of Police and suspended five police personnel for negligence and delayed action in response of mounting public anger and political criticism.

Turning the case on its head, the Bhiwani Police on August 18 said the probe had revealed that the woman had died by suicide and a note was found on her. The police claimed that the woman had bought insecticide from a shop, and the fact was established by the closed-circuit television camera footage and an entry made by the shopkeeper in the register. The Forensic Sciences Laboratory investigation and the post-mortem report too had suggested traces of insecticide in her body, said the police.

The family and the locals, however, rejected the police’s “suicide theory” as an attempt to “cover-up” questioning the five-day delay in making the note public.