CBI gets time till Jan 15 to probe Maoist leader's killing

While perusing the investigating agency's status report, the apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice R.P. Desai said that one or two conclusions do "not support the theory of the encounter being fake".

Azad and Pandey were killed in an alleged staged shootout by police past midnight July 1, 2010 in a  forested area of Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh.

The court was told by the CBI that the reports from the firearm and ballistic experts were awaited.

When the investigating agency Nov 28 sought more time to complete the investigation the court said that it would consider its plea only after being told about the progress made so far. It asked the CBI to file a status report on the probe.

The status report filed by the investigating agency gave detailed account of the scene of the shootout, medical report and the medical evidence and its findings on other aspects of the probe.

Counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Pandey's wife Bineeta, sought the copy of the status report. The court said that before it took the final call on the issue he would get the opportunity to know everything.

The court April 25 said that it would monitor the probe into the killing of Azad and Pandey after the Andhra Pradesh government conveyed its consent to handover the probe to the CBI.