New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday issued notice to the CBI on a plea seeking quashing of charges and criminal proceedings against accused Ranjan Dwivedi in the 1975 bomb attack killing of then railway minister Lalit Narayan Mishra in Bihar.
The apex court bench of Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice C.K. Prasad, while issuing the notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), asked: "Why this matter is taking so long."
"We want to know if the CBI was responsible for delaying the matter or there are other reasons for delay," the court said.
It issued notice after senior counsel M.L. Lahoty, appearing for 62-year-old Dwivedi, said that the trial in the case was going on for the last 36 years.
He told the court that the statement of the accused as part of the trial was recorded in 2004 and thereafter at the instance of the CBI the matter was lingering on.
Lahoty told the court that the CBI presented certain documents in the trial court and this would again require recording of the statement of Dwivedi, which would further delay the matter.
Seeking the quashing of the charges and the criminal proceedings again him, Dwivedi said in his petition that the trial had dragged for 36 years causing irreparable damage to his reputation.
He said that during this period, 31 witnesses and four defence counsel had passed away and others were infirm and had difficulty in recalling the incident and giving evidence after such a long gap.
The petitioner said that most of the accused in the Samastipur blast case were citizens and suffered from age related problems and were unable to defend themselves.
The petition referred to Justice V.M. Tarkunde report that supported the Bihar state criminal investigation department's finding that Dwivedi was innocent.
Seeking the quashing of the charges, Dwivedi's petition said that his repeated attempt for speedy justice were thwarted by the CBI and now since the "defence is irreparably damaged and quashing of the case is the only remedy".
According to the CBI, Dwivedi is one of the accused who threw a bomb at the dais where then railway minister was addressing a public meeting in Samastipur Jan 2, 1975. Mishra, injured in the attack, died in hospital the next day.
