By IANS,
New Delhi : The Supreme Court was Friday told by the Andhra Pradesh government that it was prepared for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the killing of Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and a journalist in an alleged gun battle in 2010.
Senior counsel Harish Salve told the bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice R.M. Lodha that the state government will approach the union home ministry for a CBI probe into killing of Azad and journalist Hem Chandra Pandey and sought adjournment till Monday.
The latest plea of the state government is a complete somersault over its earlier stand, where along with the centre it opposed even a judicial inquiry into the killings.
In fact, during the last hearing, the state government sought the dismissal of petition by Bineeta Pandey – the widow of Hen Chandra Pandey – and Swami Agnivesh.
The latest turnaround came in the wake of a strong observation by the court that said, “It is in the interest of the state of Andhra Pradesh and its investigating agency that the matter is investigated by an independent agency like CBI.”
“By this we are not casting aspersion upon the credibility of the present investigating officer or agency,” the court said.
It said the director general of the state police and the governor of Andhra Pradesh have also allegedly made certain statements that the gun battle was genuine.
Having noted this, court said, “We feel that (in the wake of these statements) it should be investigated by the CBI”.
The court said the CBI will investigate the matter under the supervision of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) who in turn will report the matter to the apex court.
The court said this after senior counsel Prashant Bhushan appearing for petitioner Bineeta Pandey told the court that the state police chief and the governor gave a clean chit to police in the absence of a proper investigation.
Bineeta Pandey had pleaded for setting up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the killing of Pandey and Maoist leader Azad on the intervening night of July 1-2, 2010, in the jungles of Adilabad district.
During the last hearing of the case, the court was told that in an half-hour long exchange of fire involving police and 20 Maoists, not a single policeman was injured and the bodies were recovered only next morning as operations were difficult at night.
Swami Agnivesh has maintained that Azad was killed while he was carrying a letter from him to Communist Party of India-Maoist leaders proposing cessation of hostilities to give the way for talks to find a solution.