High Court stays CBI probe into Naushad Kashimji murder case

Mangalore, October 18: In a setback for the family members of Naushad Kashimji, a division bench of the Karnataka High Court on Monday overruled a single judge bench order entrusting the murder case of slain human rights advocate, to Central Bureau of Investigation.

On July 15, the single judge bench headed by Justice Mohana Shantanagowdar had ordered the probe after hearing a petition seeking a CBI probe into the murder and the alleged involvement of four police officers in the two-year old case.

Naushad, who was shot dead outside his apartment in Mangalore on Apr 9, 2009, was allegedly warned by four police officers as he was appearing in court defending the alleged aide of Chota Shakeel, Rasheed Malbari.

Naushad's senior, Purushottam Pujary, had lodged a complaint with Pandeshwar police station accusing the hand of four police officers in the killing of Naushad the same evening after he was allegedly warned by the officers on April 9, 2010.

When the probe did not make a headway, the wife of the accused filed a writ petition seeking a CBI probe into the matter.

When the matter came up for hearing before single judge bench, the State Government submitted that the CID is already probing into the matter.

However, the petitioner submitted that since there is involvement of four police officers namely police inspector Venkatesh Prasanna, DYSP Jayantha Shetty, Ullal sub-inspector Shivaprakash and Panambur Circle Inspector Valentine D'Souza, she wanted the investigation to be conducted by an independent agency like the CBI.

Justice Mohan Shantangowder who heard the matter, had directed the matter be referred to CBI for further investigation.

It was, probably, for the first time in the history of Karnataka, the High Court has decided to handover a murder case to CBI.

It may be recalled that the police had arrested six persons in connection with the murder of advocate within 15 days of the incident. They were Dinesh (24), a resident of Belthangady; Rithesh (20), a resident of Kodikal; Prathap (26), a resident of Kavoor; Ganesh (28) of Kodikal; Subrahmanya (24) of Kadri and Shivaprakash (30) of Urwa Store. The police had also seized three 9 mm pistols, 8 rounds of ammunition, Rs 3,53,060 in cash, three mobile phones, Maruthi 800 car and 4 pistol-magazines.