By IANS,
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday halted the impending arrest of Maharashtra Rural Development Minister Siddharam Mhetre for his alleged role in the murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker.
A bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Mukundkam Sharma issued directions against arresting the minister till Oct 19 on a plea by him seeking anticipatory bail.
The minister had come to the apex court challenging a Bombay High Court ruling, which had earlier rejected his plea for anticipatory bail and observed that the allegations against him were serious and needed a deeper probe in public interest.
A sessions court in the district had earlier rejected Mhetre’s bail plea, following which he had aproached the high court.
A BJP worker, Bhimanna Kore, had died Sep 26 in a clash between two groups at Shevgaon village near Akkalkot in Solapur (southern Maharashtra).
The BJP had accused Mhetre of instigating the mob for the killing, though he was not present in the village at the time of the incident.