Vimal Negi death case: Accused ASI sent to one-day CBI remand by court

Suspended Assistant Sub Inspector Pankaj Sharma, who is accused of tampering with evidence in the Vimal Negi death case, was on Monday sent to a one-day CBI remand by a court here.

Pankaj Sharma, who is the first person to be arrested by the federal agency in the case, was produced before a Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM).

Sources said that Sharma was first presented before a Special CBI judge on Sunday night following his arrest by the agency, which was granted a one-day remand.

The CBI on Monday produced Sharma in the CJM court in Shimla, where it sought a five-day remand, but was granted custody of the accused for one day. The case will now be heard on Tuesday.

During the hearing, Sharma's counsel also filed a bail petition, which will also be taken up by the court on Tuesday.

Sharma has been accused of tampering with evidence in the mysterious death of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) chief engineer Vimal Negi, who had gone missing on March 10 and was found dead on March 18 in the Shahtalai area in Gobind Sagar in Bilaspur district.

Sharma was the first person to recover his pen drive and other documents from Negi. According to the postmortem report, Negi had died about five days before his body was recovered.

His wife Kiran Negi had alleged that he was tortured by the superior officers for the past six months and they also misbehaved with him.

While the case was being investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Himachal Pradesh Police, Kiran had moved the High Court for a CBI probe, and the court accepted the plea and transferred the case to the agency on May 23, 2025.

The CBI had registered a case of abetment to suicide under sections 108 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and questioned a large number of persons. Statements of family members of Negi were also taken by the CBI. Sources have said that the CBI had questioned Pankaj Sharma several times regarding the allegations that some important data was deleted from the pen drive, which was allegedly formatted by him.

Sharma's arrest on Sunday is very significant in the case as it could expose the persons who allegedly asked him to tamper with crucial evidence. He had allegedly kept the pen drive with him, the sources said.

He was suspended on May 19, days before the investigation was transferred to the CBI. He was kept under police security and 24-hour CCTV surveillance from where he was ordered to be released by the High Court on September 5.

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