India, Sept. 26 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily on the Madhya Pradesh government for "colluding with" two absconding police officers accused in the custodial death of a 24-year-old youth, issuing contempt notice to the state's additional chief secretary and demanding an explanation on how the inspectors continued to receive their salaries until just a day ago, despite being on the run since April.

A bench of justices B V Nagarathna and R Mahadevan expressed shock that despite its May 15 order transferring the probe from the state police to the CBI and directing immediate arrest of the accused, the officers remained at large while the state only suspended them on Wednesday -- five months later.

"Why are you protecting ...