The Allahabad High Court has granted one month’s time to the police to trace High Court lawyer Jai Shankar Upadhyay, who has been missing for the last three years.
A division bench comprising Justice Salil Kumar Rai and Justice Zafeer Ahmed passed the order while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Abhaykant Upadhyay, the missing lawyer’s brother.
The bench noted that despite the registration of a case in 2022, the lawyer had not been traced. “It has been three years but the corpus has not yet been traced,” the court observed.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on October 27, with directions to the Additional Government Advocate to submit a progress report on the investigation. The court also directed that the DCP (crime), ADCP (crime), and ACP (crime), Prayagraj, under whose leadership the investigation team is functioning, must be personally present on the next date of hearing.
On behalf of the state, Additional Advocate General M.C. Chaturvedi along with AGAs Paritosh Malviya and Rishi Chaddha informed the court that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by the ACP (crime) was probing the case. They added that suspects were being interrogated, and although police had sought permission for a narco test from the magistrate, it was denied.
Petitioner Abhaykant Upadhyay alleged that police had been harassing him under the pretext of investigation. The court clarified that police were free to investigate and interrogate anyone deemed necessary, but it strictly prohibited the use of “third-degree” methods.
Lawyer Jai Shankar Upadhyay, a resident of Ponghat Ka Pul under Dhoomanganj police station in Prayagraj, went missing on September 3, 2022. Initially, a missing report was lodged, which was later converted into a kidnapping case (Crime No. 360/2022) under Section 365 IPC (kidnapping). The investigation is still ongoing.
