Kathua case: SC rejects petition seeking CBI inquiry

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by one of the accused in the alleged Kathua rape and murder case, seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation.

Lawyer Ankur Sharma and Chandan Sharma, appearing for accused Parvesh Kumar, submitted to the apex court division bench that the Kathua case was not being investigated in an impartial manner fully and, therefore, the CBI should be entrusted with the probe.

The two-judge bench, headed by Uday Umesh Lalit and also comprising of Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, dismissed the petition.

"The entire investigation is not impartial. The witnesses are allegedly being tutored. We want a thorough CBI investigation into the case," Ankur Sharma submitted to the Supreme Court.

The top court, however, did not find any merit in the petition and dismissed it. "There is no merit in the petition," the apex court said.

On the direction of the top court, the trial is being conducted in Pathankot trial court.

The state police's crime branch, which probed the case, had filed the main charge sheet against seven accused persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile.

During the argument, various annexures were submitted by Ankur Sharma pointing out infirmities in the charge sheet filed by the crime branch in the case.

According to the police, the brutal incident took place between January 10 to 17, 2018, when the victim was allegedly being raped and murdered by the seven accused persons.

The seven accused in the case are Sanjhi Ram, Vishal Jangotra, Deepak Khajuria, Surinder Verma, Tilak Raj, Anand Dutta and Parvesh Kumar.