RSS worker murder: SC rejects plea by PFI members

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea by members of the Popular Front of India, an Islamist organisation, against the NIA probe ordered into the murder of RSS worker Rudresh in Bengaluru in 2016.

PFI Bengaluru district president Asim Sharif; realtor Irfan Pasha and others who were arrested in the case approached the top court, challenging the decision of the central government to hand over the probe to the specialised National Investigation Agency.

A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Navin Sinha declined to entertain the petition, finding no irregularities in the order passed by the Karnataka High Court on March 26.

With regard to this, senior advocate Amrendra Sharan decided to withdraw the special leave petition.

"After hearing the senior counsel for the petitioners, since we were not inclined to interfere, a request is made to permit the petitioners to withdraw these petitions. Hence, the petitions are dismissed as withdrawn," the bench said.

In their petition, Pasha and the other accused challenged the Ministry of Home Affairs' order of December 7, 2016, directing the NIA to investigate the murder case of Rudresh, lodged by the Commercial Street police on October 16, 2016.

Rudresh was hacked to death by machetes when he was returning after a Vijayadashami event.

A trial court had in January this year charged accused Sharif, Mohammed Muzeeb Ulla, Wasim Ahmed, Pasha and Mohammed Sadiq with the offences of murder and a terrorist act under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The petitioner-accused had claimed that the central government had abused its executive power to direct the NIA probe into the incident, though there was nothing to term a murder case as a "terrorist act" and the weapon – machete – allegedly used in the offence was a conventional one. They also claimed that invoking the charges under the UAPA was wrong as the PFI was not a banned outfit.