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Judge rejects CBI plea in Rajiv case again

For the second time, the designated Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act Court-1 Judge Vadivel Rathinam has turned down the plea by the Multi-Disciplinary Monitoring Agency, a wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation, seeking permission to further probe the conspiracy behind former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assasination based on the findings of Justice Milap Chand Jain Commission.

The judge grilled the CBI for 45 minutes before, once again, declining to accept the petition in its present form. The CBI's effort to put forth its case backfired with the judge asserting that he could not pass any order on the plea without documents and records.

On Friday last, he had returned a similar petition filed by the CBI for want of particulars and records.

CBI public prosecutor Jacob Daniel met the judge in his chamber to convince him that the CBI had been asked to probe further into the case and that it needed formal court permission to conduct the investigation.

The judge asked the CBI to file materials on whether he had any jurisdiction to hear the case and whether the Jain Commission had stated that the designated TADA court should hear the same.

He also wanted to know how the CBI proposed to proceed with the findings arrived at during the probe. Would the CBI furnish its findings before the court or send it to the Commission or the government, he asked.

UNI

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