Capt Kohli’s mother dejected over Antony’s reply, wants CBI probe

CHANDIGARH - Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s comment in the Rajya Sabha that young army officer Captain Sumit Kohli had committed suicide and no further inquiry is required in the case has saddened the officer’s mother Veena Kohli who is now demanding a CBI probe into the death.

Antony’s answer has come as a big blow for the mother of the decorated officer, as she was expecting a fair inquiry into his death after getting an assurance from Antony in September.

While answering a query of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in the Rajya Sabha, Antony had maintained that Kohli had committed suicide and no further probe was required.

“I had received a letter from Antony, in September, in which he assured me of re-investigation in the mysterious death of my son. Then nobody contacted me and I do not know whether a fresh probe was conducted or not,” Veena, who resides in this union territory, said Thursday.

“I am not satisfied and want an independent Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the incident,” she added.

In September, Antony had ordered a fresh inquiry into the circumstances leading to the mysterious death of Kohli.

The earlier probe by Army authorities had stated that Captain Kohli committed suicide with his AK-47 rifle.

Veena Kohli said she believes her son was “murdered” at an army residential complex in Jammu and Kashmir’s Lolab Valley, near the Line of Control (LoC) where the captain was posted in 2006.

Captain Kohli was decorated with the Shaurya Chakra - the third highest peace time gallantry medal - on Republic Day 2006. He was found dead with a bullet wound April 30 the same year. He was serving with the 18 Rashtriya Rifles in the militancy-infested Lolab valley.

The mother alleged the army had tarnished the image of her son by claiming he committed suicide. She alleged that Sumit had come to know about the killings in staged shootouts by his senior officers in Jammu and Kashmir and this could have led to his death.

The Kohli family suffered another tragedy a day after Sumit’s death when his shocked father suffered a stroke and died after the captain’s cremation here.