Kathua case transfer to CBI: SC likely to decide tomorrow

The Supreme Court is likely to hear tomorrow the Kathua gangrape-and-murder case along with the petitions seeking shifting of the trial to Chandigarh and handing over the investigation to the CBI.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, which had stayed the trial in the case till tomorrow, would deal with the prayer of the victim's father for shifting the trial to Chandigarh and the plea of the accused seeking handing over the probe to CBI.

The victim, an eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community, had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in the Jammu region on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later.

The apex court had earlier given a stern warning and said it would transfer the Kathua gangrape-and-murder case from the local court in the "slightest possibility" of lack of fair trial, saying the "real concern" was to hold proper prosecution.

The girl's father had moved the apex court earlier, apprehending threat to the family, a friend and their lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat. A separate plea was also filed by two accused seeking that the trial in the case be held in Jammu and the probe handed over to the CBI.

The state police's Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed the main charge sheet against seven persons and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district last week. The charge sheet revealed chilling details about how the girl was allegedly kidnapped, drugged and raped inside a place of worship before being killed.