Lift stay on Bulandshahr rape probe, CBI tells SC

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has moved the Supreme Court, asking it to lift its stay on the ongoing probe in the Bulandshahr gang rape case.

NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has moved the Supreme Court, asking it to lift its stay on the ongoing probe in the Bulandshahr gang rape case.

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The CBI has contended that the current ban may delay the filing of the charges-heet in the case. If a final probe report is not filed within 90 days of the arrest of the six accused, all of the accused will be entitled to statutory bail, the agency said.

On a petition filed by the rape victim’s husband, asking for a transfer of the case outside UP, the SC bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra had stayed the CBI probe. It took strong exception to UP minister Azam Khan’s statement that the gang rape was a “political conspiracy” and fixed September 29 to hear the case again.

CBI urged the top court that it will hardly have any time to file the charge-sheet after September 29.

“That on behalf of the CBI, it is most humbly and respectfully submitted that continuation of stay of investigation by the CBI may result in disappearance of material evidence and may cause prejudice to the conduct of this case,” the agency said.

The FIR, initially lodged by the Uttar Pradesh police under various sections of IPC was transferred to the CBI subsequent to the Allahabad High Court order.

The petitioner’s wife and minor daughter were raped on the night of July 29, when a group of highway robbers stopped their car. The accused dragged them out of the vehicle at gun-point and later assaulted the victims.

The Supreme Court has also appointed jurist and senior advocate Fali Nariman to assist the court on whether politicians, especially those in power, can issue statements that is likely to impact a fair and impartial probe in criminal cases.