assassination(Eds: Adding background details)New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court today posedsearching questions to a petitioner seeking re-investigationin the assassination case of Mahatma Gandhi and asked him tosatisfy it on aspects of delay and his locus to raise theissue.
The apex court made it clear that it would go only by lawand not the stature of the person involved in the case.
A bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Raotold the petitioner not to get carried away by the greatnessof the person involved as the issue was whether there was anyevidence available in the matter.
"You (petitioner) have to answer a couple of veryimportant points. One of them is delay. The other is locus.
The third is the fact that because of the delay, every pieceof evidence pertaining to the incident is lost," the benchsaid adding that almost all witnesses related to the case havepassed away.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Mumbai-based DrPankaj Phadnis, a researcher and a trustee of Abhinav Bharat,who has sought reopening of investigation on several grounds,claiming it was one of the biggest cover-ups in the history.
Meanwhile, Phadnis requested for time to respond to thereport filed by senior advocate Amarendra Sharan, who has beenappointed as an amicus curiae to assist the court in thematter.
Sharan, in his report filed in the court, has said therewas no need to re-investigate Mahatma's assassination case asthe conspiracy behind the murder and identity of assailantNathuram Vinayak Godse who had fired the bullets have alreadybeen duly established.
The bench granted four weeks time to the petitioner tofile his response to the report of the amicus.
During the hearing, the bench told the petitioner thatthe issue was whether any admissible evidence was available atpresent.
"Don't get carried away with the greatness of the personinvolved. This is about whether there is any evidenceavailable or not," the bench observed adding, "court will actaccording to the law and rule and not as per stature of personinvolved."Sharan, in his report filed in the court, has said claimsregarding existence of British special intelligence unit bythe name 'Force 136' and its alleged role in the assassinationwas not substantiated.
The report has said that records of the case establishedthat an independent judiciary had adjudged the crimes ofNathuram Vinayak Godse and other accused in the matter andjustice was served.
Gandhi was shot dead at point blank range in New Delhi onJanuary 30, 1948 by Godse, a right-wing advocate of Hindunationalism. The assassination case had led to the convictionand execution of Godse and Narayan Apte on November 15, 1949.
"The bullets which pierced Mahatma Gandhi's body, thepistol from which it was fired, the assailant who fired thesaid bullets, the conspiracy which led to the assassinationand the ideology which led to the said assassination have allbeen duly identified," the report has said.
The petitioner has questioned the 'three bullet theory'relied upon by various courts to hold conviction of accusedGodse and Apte, who were hanged, and Vinayak Damodar Savarkarwho was given benefit of doubt due to lack of evidence.
Regarding the claim by the petitioner about the allegedfourth bullet, the amicus has said that as per records of thecase, only three empty cartridges and two spent bullets werefound at the place of occurrence and no fourth spent bullet orempty cartridge was found from there.
The report has also said Godse was arrested at the spotwith the murder weapon, a semi automatic Beretta pistol whichcould load seven cartridges at a time, and the recordssuggested that only three bullets were fired.
Phadnis has challenged the decision of the Bombay HighCourt which on June 6, 2016 had dismissed his PIL on twogrounds -- firstly, that the findings of fact have beenrecorded by the competent court and confirmed right up to theapex court, and secondly, the Kapur Commission has submittedits report and made observations in 1969, while the presentpetition has been filed 46 years later. PTI ABA MNL RRT SKVDV.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.