SC reserves order on plea to re-investigate Mahatma Gandhi's assassination

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order on a plea that seeks reopening of the investigation into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on the grounds that it was one of the biggest cover-ups in history.

A bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao said it would go only by law and not by sentiments or the stature of the person involved in the case.

The bench also said it was not interested in ordering reopening of the probe into Gandhi's assassination and added that the persons involved in assassination had already been identified and convicted.

"It's too late. We are not going to reopen it (investigation)," bench added.

Mumbai-based Pankaj Kumudchandra Phadnis, who has sought the reopening of the probe, told the court that he had accessed documents that showed a "larger conspiracy" behind the murder.

Phadnis -- a researcher and a trustee of Abhinav Bharat, a right wing organisation -- said that he had obtained documents, which the Indian government had banned here, from the Library of Congress in New York.

Senior advocate Amarendra Sharan, appointed amicus curiae to assist the court in the case, had said that there was no need to re-investigate it as the conspiracy behind the murder and identity of assailant Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who had fired the bullets, had already been duly established.

--IANS

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