By IANS,
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday restrained the NIA from interrogating Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in connection with the 2007 murder of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh activist Sunil Joshi in Madhya Pradesh.
An apex court bench of Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice C.K. Prasad passed the restrain order after senior counsel Basav Prabhu Patil, appearing for Thakur, told the court that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) could not undertake the probe offences that took place prior to its creation.
The National Investigation Agency came into existence in December 2008. Thakur challenged the power of the NIA to undertake investigation of offences committed prior to that.
Thakur challenged the Madhya Pradesh High Court order by which it permitted her interrogation by the NIA in jail in the presence of her advocates though they were to be seated in a place separated by the glass partition.
Thakur moved the high court challenging the order of the NIA court in Bhopal permitting the investigating agency’s plea to interrogate her in the Joshi murder case. The NIA court permitted Thakur’s interrogation April 12.
The apex court bench of Justice Dattu and Justice Chauhan tagged Thakur’s case with that of Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi and Col. Prasad Purohit who too challenged the NIA jurisdiction on the same count.
Dwivedi and Purohit are accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.
Besides the Joshi murder, Thakur is also an accused in other cases involving blasts in the Samjhauta Express in Haryana and at Ajmer in Rajasthan.
Joshi was murdered in Dewas Dec 29, 2007. The case was initially investigated by the Madhya Pradesh Police before it was taken over by the NIA.