In a big relief to the Akhilesh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down the request to hand over probe into the Mathura violence incident to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). About 29 persons died including two policemen while evicting followers of a cult Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi from Jawahar Bagh in Mathura.
A Vacation Bench of Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy did not find any ground to doubt the efficiency of the Uttar Pradesh police after going through the petition filed by a BJP spokesperson Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. Moreover, the bench was of the view that there was no cause to interfere with the Allahabad High Court already monitoring the incident. Incidentally, the eviction of the cult members had resulted from an order passed by the Allahabad HC while dealing with a PIl filed by residents around Jawahar Bagh.
With the apex court refusing to grant any relief, senior advocate Geetha luthra appearing for Upadhyay decided to withdraw the petition. luthra in her arguments submitted that the violence witnessed was unprecedented and the incident raised serious questions on how the cult was allowed to store arms, ammunition, in the heart of the city and even conduct training in warfare to its followers. The police had recovered 47 guns, six rifles and 179 hand grenades from the spot.
Doubting political nexus behind the long rope given to the cult, luthra said that the state investigating agencies are not doing their work properly.