Mumbai, Aug 6: The Maharashtra government had recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the acid attack on New Delhi nurse Preeti Rathi when she came to Mumbai to take up a government job, a minister said on Tuesday.
"The state government had demanded that the case be investigated by the CBI two months ago. The final decision in the matter rests with the central agency," Home Minister R.R. Patil said in a statement.
The state home department's principal secretary had written to CBI chief Ranjit Sinha given the inter-state ramifications of the attack on Preeti Rathi, Patil added.
His statement came a day after Preeti's father Amar Singh Rathi moved the Bombay High Court, demanding a CBI probe into the incident.
Rathi filed the petition in the court alleging inaction on the part of Mumbai police in arresting the person/s actually involved in the acid attack on her at Bandra Terminus May 2.
A month later, June 1, Preeti -- who had come to Mumbai to join as a nurse in the INS Ashvini, Colaba -- succumbed to her grievous injuries.
Rathi has also alleged inaction on the part of the authorities and said the Maharashtra home minister had also assured of a CBI probe, but nothing happened afterwards.
Patil dismissed the allegation as baseless.
One person was nabbed in connection with the case, but he was later released on bail and Rathi has no faith in the police probe going on in the matter, he added, explaining the decision to move the court.
Preeti had suffered severe damage to her lungs and succumbed to injuries a month later in Mumbai.
Her body was shifted to her home in Narela, Delhi, and cremated June 4.
