The court of the Faridkot additional sessions judge on Monday dismissed an application filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) seeking the transfer of Dera Sacha Sauda follower Pardeep Kataria’s murder case to New Delhi.
On November 10, 2022, Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda follower Pardeep Singh Kataria, an accused in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, was shot dead by six motorcycle-borne assailants in his shop at Kotkapura in Faridkot district.
The central agency had moved an application in the Faridkot trial court for transfer of the case to NIA special court, Patiala House Court (PHC), Delhi. The court of Faridkot additional sessions judge Dinesh Kumar Wadhwa dismissed the application filed by the NIA.
Advocate VK Monga, who is counsel for Kataria’s wife, said that the NIA had only moved an application seeking transfer of the case, they have not sought any permission to investigate this case further. “The NIA has also not registered any separate FIR in connection with Pardeep’s murder. Observing these facts the court has dismissed the application filed by the NIA,” he said.
An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that “the sessions court is not a competent authority to transfer the case to another state or UT as it does not fall under its jurisdiction. Only the high court has the authority to transfer cases out of the state. The sessions court can only transfer cases within the district, so the plea was defective.”
{{/usCountry}}An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that “the sessions court is not a competent authority to transfer the case to another state or UT as it does not fall under its jurisdiction. Only the high court has the authority to transfer cases out of the state. The sessions court can only transfer cases within the district, so the plea was defective.”
{{/usCountry}}Pardeep was shot dead inside his shop at Hari Nau in Kotkapura, while his gunman was injured. Police had identified all six assailants, which include four from the Haryana module and two of the Punjab module shooters. The modules were being handled independently by one of the most wanted gangsters in India and Canada Goldy Brar, an accomplice of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.