The Bombay High Court on Friday, November 6, declined urgent relief to transfer the investigation into the murder of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Pradeep Purnekar in Thane, Maharashtra. A vacation bench of Justices Advait Sethna and Ranjitsinha Bhonsale, hearing Mandar Ghodke v. State of Maharashtra and Others, granted the petitioners liberty to move the regular bench after the vacation period.

Source: Bar and Bench

Purnekar's family, including original complainant Mandar Ghodke, approached the court demanding that the probe be transferred to another agency. The family alleges that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has failed to properly investigate the case, has ignored crucial evidence including CCTV footage submitted by the family, and is shielding the true political masterminds. Those are the family's allegations, which the SIT and police have not accepted in the reporting cited here.

Questioning the urgency of intervening at this stage, the bench observed that only 37 days had elapsed since the September 29 murder and that more than 45 days still remained for the investigation to be completed and a chargesheet filed. The court said it is settled law that a court cannot direct the manner in which an investigation has to proceed.

What the prosecution told the court

Special Public Prosecutor Rajeev Chavan defended the pace of the SIT probe and told the court that five arrests were made within 10 days of the September 29 murder. He said evidence provided by the petitioners has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL).

Source: Bar and Bench

The petition had first come up on Wednesday, when a bench declined to hear it urgently and permitted the petitioners to approach the vacation bench, according to DCN News. Friday's order does not end the family's plea: the petitioners may mention the matter before the regular bench when the court reopens, on the first day of which the vacation bench gave them liberty to move.

Source: DCN News