IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH (136)

Dilip Kumar ……Petitioner(s)

Versus State of Haryana and others ……Respondent(s)

Decided on : 06.04.2026 Date of uploading: 06.04.2026 CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SUMEET GOEL Present: Mr. Rajesh Bansal, Advocate for the petitioner (s).

Ms. Priyanka Sadar, Sr. DAG, Haryana.

Mr. Ravi Kamal Gupta, Special Public Prosecutor for the respondent-CBI.

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Sumeet Goel, J. (Oral):

1. The substantive prayer made in the instant petition reads thus:

“i) Issue a writ in the nature of Habeas Corpus directing the official respondents to recover the sons (Vishal Rathor aged 17 years and Aditya Rathor aged 15 years) of the petitioner, from the illegal custody of the kidnappers, in the interest of justice.

ii) It is further prayed that life and liberty of the petitioner and his family members may kindly be protected as the kidnappers become inimical to the petitioner and they could cause any harm to the petitioner, his family members and both the sons (detenues) who are in the illegal custody of the kidnappers, in the interest of justice.

iii) Further for issuance of a writ, order or direction especially in the nature of mandamus for transfer of investigation of FIR No.0029 dated 18.01.2023 (Annexure P-2) under Section 365 of Indian Penal Code, 1860, Police Station Old Industrial Panipat, District Panipat to respondent No.6/Central Bureau of Investigation or to any other independent agency, in the interest of justice.”

2. Various status reports/replies have been filed by the State, the latest being one dated 30.03.2026. This Court has perused the said status report, relevant whereof reads thus:

“3. Registration of FIR and Initial Investigation:- That on 18.01.2023, FIR No. 29 under Section 365 IPC was promptly registered on the complaint of the petitioner. During the initial investigative efforts included a comprehensive review of CCTV footage showed both children leaving unattended. Local inquiries and searches were conducted and missing persons alerts were circulated widely through multiple search channels.

4. Ransom Call Angle:- That on 14.02.2023, call for ransom demands amounting Rs. 4 lakhs were received by the complainant. Technical analysis traced these calls to server-based routed numbers leading to the identification of individuals operating illicit illegal call routing systems.

5. Arrest of Accused Persons:- That during investigation, three accused were arrested in the case i.e. (i) Accused Nitin was arrested on 06.03.2023, (ii) Accused Ashutosh Bora was arrested on 24.05.2023 and (iii) Accused Sonu was arrested on 02.08.2023. Consequently, Sections 387 IPC and 120-B OTARY PC were invoked in the case considering the nature of crime. However, during investigation by SIT, it was found that the accused persons were involved in making fraudulent ransom calls for extortion, but no evidence surfaced connecting them with the actual disappearance of the children. True Copy of disclosure statements of accused Nitin, Ashutosh and Sonu are annexed herewith as Annexure R-1 to Annexure R-3.

6. Scientific and Technical Analysis:- That during investigation, Servers and SSDs were seized from Sifi Data Centre, Noida and they were forwarded to CFSL, Panchkula. However, as per report dated 16.05.2025, no relevant data could be retrieved. True Copy of CFL Report is annexed herewith as Annexure R-4.

7. SIT Investigation:- That the investigation was transferred to the Anti Human Trafficking Unit, State Crime Branch, Haryana, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted. The SIT explored all possible angles including: financial analysis to detect any transactional activity of the missing persons (which yielded no result), examination of social media platforms and digital footprints (which did not reveal any actionable lead), coordination with police authorities across the country, search through the ZIPNET database, verification of unidentified dead bodies and institutional records, as well as inquiries fr