NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday gave relief to the Maharashtra Police by granting it more time to conclude its probe and file a charge sheet in the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
The Bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, stayed the Bombay High Court order, which had set aside the lower court's verdict allowing extension of time to the police to file the probe report against the rights activists arrested in the case and issued notice to the rights activists on a plea of the Maharashtra Government, seeking their replies within two weeks.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the Maharashtra Government, told the Bench that denial of time to police would entitle the accused to statutory bail due to non-filing of the charge sheet within the stipulated period of 90 days.
He further said the Investigating Officer (IO) of the case had filed the application seeking an extension of time for filing the charge sheet before the trial court and the same was endorsed by the public prosecutor as well.
The submissions, however, opposed by senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, stated that the High Court had rightly held that filing of such applications was illegal.
Meanwhile, the Bench also issued a notice on another plea of the Maharashtra Police challenging the Delhi High Court order quashing the transit remand in the case of activist Gautam Navlakha.
Earlier, the apex court had refused to interfere with the arrest of the five rights activists by the Maharashtra Police in connection with the Bhima Koregaon violence case.
The Pune Police had arrested lawyer Surendra Gadling, Nagpur University professor Shoma Sen, Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale, activist Mahesh Raut and Kerala native Rona Wilson in June for their alleged links with Maoists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.