Hc Seeks Reply From Cbi & Centre On Dera Chief’s Plea, Legal News, ET LegalWorld – Legal Firms


The Punjab and Haryana high court has asked the Centre and the CBI to submit their reply on a plea filed by controversial chief of Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh demanding handing over Punjab’s 2015 sacrilege cases to the CBI.

Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj of the HC passed these orders while hearing an amended petition filed by the dera chief. When the matter came up for hearing before the HC on Tuesday, the counsel for the CBI submitted that reply to the original writ petition had already been filed. He, however, requested some more time to file an affidavit, if so advised, to the amended writ petition. The counsel for the Central government also sought two weeks to file reply to the amended plea.

“Reply to the amended writ petition on behalf of respondents i.e. Union of India and Central Bureau of Investigation, if any, be filed within a period of two weeks from today with a copy in advance to the learned counsel for the petitioner. Rejoinder, if any, be also filed to the same within a further period of two weeks,” observed the HC while adjourning the matter for January 10, 2023 for further hearing.

Advocate Jitender Khurana, one of the counsels representing dera chief, said that only some documents had been placed before the HC in the amended plea, but the main prayer was the same as per the original petition.

In his plea, the dera chief has been seeking directions to set aside the Punjab government notification dated September 6, 2018, through which the state government had withdrawn the consent given for CBI investigation in sacrilege cases. He has also been praying for directions to the CBI to start the investigation from where it had left before the state’s notification. The investigation of these cases is being conducted by the special investigation team (SIT) of Punjab Police and a charge sheet has also been submitted by the SIT against him. The dera chief is serving jail terms in in rape and murder cases in Haryana.





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