Mathura violence: Supreme Court rejects plea on CBI probe

The Supreme Court today refused to order a CBI probe for Mathura clash which killed 29 people including two policemen officers. The court was hearing a PIL filed on the violence and seeking a CBI inquiry. 

The plea was heard by a bench of justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy. The bench asked the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court with its appeal, clarifying that the bench is not keen on taking a stand on the issue.

The lawyer Geeta Luthra, speaking on behalf of petitioner lawyer and Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay, said investigations should be done thoroughly and the lawyer raised concern that evidences after the incident were destroyed.

"From your petition there is no evidence to suggest there is any lapse on the part of state investigating agency. Without any evidence that state investigating agencies are not working properly, courts cannot interfere," Luthra was quoted by PTI.

The apex court had yesterday agreed to hear the plea which had sought an urgent hearing, saying CBI probe was necessary, looking at the gravity of the violence.

Twenty nine people, including Mathura SP Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Kumar Yadav were killed in the clash between the police and encroachers that broke out in the city on June 2 when police tried to evict illegal occupants, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, from Jawahar Bagh on Allahabad High Court orders.

Upadhyay, in his plea, had said the court may also take suo motu cognizance of the matter and direct the CBI enquiry, as "it is necessary to find out the truth, root cause of the incident and nexus among executive, legislature and the said group".

The petitioner had also sought a direction to the state and Centre for framing of a uniform policy for compensation for families of the deceased in such cases.

 It had also claimed the union government was ready for a CBI inquiry into the incident but Uttar Pradesh government was developing cold feet in recommending CBI probe.

• Mathura clash
• Mathura SP
• Mathura anti-encroachment drive