Supreme Court stays Madras High Court order transferring probe in Armstrong murder case to CBI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed a Madras High Court order transferring the probe into the murder of former Tamil Nadu BSP president K Armstrong to the CBI.

A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi was hearing an appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu government challenging the order of the High Court, which had also quashed the chargesheet filed by the state police in the case.

Earlier, the top court had on October 10 stayed the High Court order that quashed the chargesheet. It, however, did not stay the high court's direction transferring the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

On Wednesday, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Tamil Nadu police, refuted allegations that the state police refused to share the records of the case with the CBI.

The apex court passed the order staying the CBI probe after Luthra submitted that the police had filed a comprehensive chargesheet and the high court quashed it in a "casual manner".

The high court on September 24 transferred the probe into the killing of Armstrong to the CBI and directed the federal agency to conclude the investigation and file a final report before the jurisdictional court in six months.

Armstrong, who was the Tamil Nadu president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was hacked to death near his Chennai residence on July 5, 2024. So far, 27 people have been arrested and remanded in judicial custody in connection with the case.

Many have since been detained under the Goondas Act as well.