'No probe against Prez's brother'

Dismissing a petition filed by the widow of the slain Congress leader, a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said the evidence on record was not enough to direct the CBI to initiate probe against the suspects.

Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Rajni Vishram Patil, argued that despite enough evidence against G N Patil, who had been allegedly involved in conspiracy to kill the petitioner’s husband, Vishram Patil, a local Congress leader in Jalgaon in Maharashtra.

Jethmalani said despite the prime accused Raju Mali’s written statement before his death that he had acted allegedly at the behest of G N Patil, his associates Ulhas Patil and Ramesh Chaudhary, the CBI did not question these suspects.

Even the complaint against Patil and the other accused to the police after the murder of Vishram Patil was not looked into by the CBI, said Jethmalani.

However, the bench questioned the authenticity of the statement when he was in judicial custody by saying that the dying declaration could have been recoded by the Magistrate or officials of the jail.

The agency has given a clean chit to G N Patil saying that there was no evidence of his involvement in the conspiracy to murder Vishram, former president of Jalgaon district Congress.