SC rejects NGO's plea for further probe in Haren Pandya case, slaps Rs 50K fine

The Supreme Court Friday dismissed a PIL of an NGO seeking further probe into the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya in 2003, terming it as "not bona fide" and "bereft of merit" and slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on it.

The NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), had relied upon statements of a witness in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case and texts of a book written by journalist Rana Ayyub for seeking re-investigation in the case.

"The way in which the things have moved in Gujarat post-Godhra incident, such allegations and counter-allegations are not uncommon and had been raised a number of times and have been found to be untenable and afterthought," the top court observed.

It termed as "shocking and surprising" the method of accused having resorted to supply the documents and file a PIL in their self-interest to virtually attack the prosecution case on the same grounds after the appeals were reserved for verdict.

The bench said that in all fairness, such writ petition ought not to have been filed by CPIL at the instance of accused as it is clearly misuse of "Forum of PIL".

The order dismissing the NGO's plea came along with the verdict on a batch of appeals filed by CBI, Gujarat Police, accused and their family members in the Pandya murder case.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Sharan said, "No ground for further re-investigation or investigation is made out in the matter. The writ petition is dismissed with cost of Rs 50,000 to be deposited by petitioner with Supreme Court Bar Association Advocates Welfare Fund within a month".

The top court also rejected the contention of the NGO to rely upon the statements given by one Md Azam Khan, a prosecution witness in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, and texts of book written by journalist Rana Ayyub and termed as "an afterthought" and of "no utility" respectively.

"In our opinion on merits in view of the material that has been placed on record including that of Azam Khan's statement and book by Rana Ayyub, no case is made out on the basis of material placed on record so as to direct further investigation or re-investigation. There is absolutely no