Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra home department to enquire into the role of police for allegedly neglecting complaints lodged by the Vaidya couple , who were later kidnapped and brutally killed by builder Kiran Mahalle and his goons over a property dispute in August.The court had already handed over the enquiry to the state CID.The division bench comprising justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Indira Jain also asked its registry to seal all papers related to the investigation submitted to the court by assistant police inspector Pradip Atulkar. The registrar (judicial) was told to complete formalities in the presence of assistant public prosecutor and petitioners' counsel."The government, through its home department, should look into the entire controversy and may appoint a competent senior officer. The record shall be handed over to that officer by the registrar (judicial) after obtaining proper receipt. The officer should look into all aspects, carry out necessary investigation and also find out the police officers who have failed to perform their duties," the bench stated.The court told the government to submit probe report of police inaction to the competent officer before March 14, fixed as next date of hearing. "One month before their disappearance, the deceased couple pointed out threats to their life and lodged a complaint. No cognizance, thereof, perhaps has been taken. It appears that after they filed civil suit, they've disappeared. Much later when this court passed order and asked the agency to look into the facet of possession, their dead bodies were discovered," the judges pointed out.According to petitioner Gautam Khadatkar, Vaidya's brother-in-law, the deceased lodged first complaint with Ajni Police on July 5 after receiving threats from the builder to vacate the property, which was sold by his mother to him. He reapproached the cops after getting repeated threats on July 12, asking for a protection, from builder, who had allegedly abused and thrashed the couple.However, they failed to take his complaint seriously and ignored threats received by him.Petitioner's lawyers — Nitin and Meena Hiwase, strongly contended that the role of Ajni police was doubtful from the first day, the complaint was lodged. They stated that police started probe only after chided by the high court, else the mystery of couple's sudden disappearance would never have been solved. They contended that if the police had acted at that time only and arrested the builder, the couple could have been saved.

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