Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said it
would not allow investigation to continue in the Maval firing
case by a police official who has been prohibited from heading
the probe by a lower court, which has also ordered for a case
to be registered into the incident.
"The magistrate`s court of Maval while directing for FIR
to be registered in the incident had said that investigation
should be handed over to the Maval police station only and not
to the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) of any other
division," a division bench of Justices S A Bobade and R D
Dhanuka observed.
The bench was hearing a public interest litigation filed
by activist I G Kahndelwal seeking investigation by an
independent agency like CBI or state CID as the FIR is against
police officers.
"Despite the order, Maharashtra government has handed
over probe to the DySP of Daund division S L Kengar. This is
in contempt of the lower court`s order. The lower court was
informed about this when the government said they would
challenge the order before the sessions court," petitioner`s
advocate Rajeev Pandey argued.
Counsel for the state government, Ravi Kadam, told the
court that the government will challenge the magistrate`s
order before the sessions court following which the High Court
adjourned the matter for eight weeks.
The High Court also said that there was an impression
that there was pressure on the investigating officers.
"There is some reason why officers are reluctant to
investigate properly. In that case why don`t you (government)
hand over the case to an independent agency?," Justice Bobabe
said.
Kadam, however, declined any influence on the
investigating officers and said over 200 witnesses have been
examined so far and there has been considerable progress in
the case.
On August 9 last year, police had opened fire on farmers
who had gathered to oppose laying of a closed pipeline to
supply water from Pavna dam. Three agitators were killed and
19 were injured in the incident.
PTI
