MP hurdle leads govt to seek legal opinion in Joshi case
Vishwa Mohan, TNN
Mar 14, 2011, 12.19am IST
NEW DELHI: Madhya Pradesh government's reluctance has forced the Union home ministry to seek legal opinion before handing over the case of Hindu terrorist Sunil Joshi's murder to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is set to take up saffron terror cases — currently being probed by different agencies — in the next few days.
"Although the NIA Act empowers the Centre to suo-motu direct the probe agency to investigate any terror-related case, the ministry does not want to take any chance specifically when the Madhya Pradesh police has already filed chargesheet in the case and taken cognizance of the terror link," a senior home ministry official said.
Joshi, involved in a number of terror incidents including Samjhauta Express blast, was allegedly shot dead in Dewas, MP in December 2007 by fellow Hindu radicals who feared that if arrested, he may spill the beans about his and others' involvement in a number of blasts.
The state police in its chargesheet alleged that Malegaon blast case accused Pragya Singh Thakur was the brain behind Joshi's murder.
The official said, "Legal opinion is required as transfer of the case at this juncture may have its bearing during trial of these cases. We want to make the transfer of Joshi murder case or the other cases a foolproof decision."
The NIA is currently probing two (Modasa blast, September 2008 and Samjhauta Express blast, February 2007) of the total seven Hindu terror related cases while one case each is being probed by Rajasthan Police (Ajmer Sharif blast, October 2007) and Maharashtra Police (Malegaon blast, September 2008). The CBI is probing two cases — Malegaon blast of September 2006 and Mecca Masjid blast of May 2007.
Referring to the extent of probe done by different agencies and chargesheets filed, the official said the agency may "request the state government to associate itself with the investigation" under the NIA Act.
The ministry had recently taken an "in-principle" decision to hand over all right-wing terror cases to NIA so that one single agency could handle the probe into all such cases which were inter-linked. CBI and Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Maharashtra governments have indicated their consent for the transfer. But BJP-ruled MP government is learnt to be reluctant....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTEvMDMvMTQjQXIwMTEwMw==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Vishwa Mohan, TNN
Mar 14, 2011, 12.19am IST
NEW DELHI: Madhya Pradesh government's reluctance has forced the Union home ministry to seek legal opinion before handing over the case of Hindu terrorist Sunil Joshi's murder to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is set to take up saffron terror cases — currently being probed by different agencies — in the next few days.
"Although the NIA Act empowers the Centre to suo-motu direct the probe agency to investigate any terror-related case, the ministry does not want to take any chance specifically when the Madhya Pradesh police has already filed chargesheet in the case and taken cognizance of the terror link," a senior home ministry official said.
Joshi, involved in a number of terror incidents including Samjhauta Express blast, was allegedly shot dead in Dewas, MP in December 2007 by fellow Hindu radicals who feared that if arrested, he may spill the beans about his and others' involvement in a number of blasts.
The state police in its chargesheet alleged that Malegaon blast case accused Pragya Singh Thakur was the brain behind Joshi's murder.
The official said, "Legal opinion is required as transfer of the case at this juncture may have its bearing during trial of these cases. We want to make the transfer of Joshi murder case or the other cases a foolproof decision."
The NIA is currently probing two (Modasa blast, September 2008 and Samjhauta Express blast, February 2007) of the total seven Hindu terror related cases while one case each is being probed by Rajasthan Police (Ajmer Sharif blast, October 2007) and Maharashtra Police (Malegaon blast, September 2008). The CBI is probing two cases — Malegaon blast of September 2006 and Mecca Masjid blast of May 2007.
Referring to the extent of probe done by different agencies and chargesheets filed, the official said the agency may "request the state government to associate itself with the investigation" under the NIA Act.
The ministry had recently taken an "in-principle" decision to hand over all right-wing terror cases to NIA so that one single agency could handle the probe into all such cases which were inter-linked. CBI and Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Maharashtra governments have indicated their consent for the transfer. But BJP-ruled MP government is learnt to be reluctant....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTEvMDMvMTQjQXIwMTEwMw==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
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