SC quashes CBI probe into Mathura violence

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today refused to order a CBI probe into the clashes in Mathura that left 29 people dead. A vacation bench of justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy said that it is not inclined to pass any order and asked the petitioner to approach the Allahabad High Court for a remedy. During the hearing, senior advocate Geeta Luthra, and Delhi BJP spokesperson Ashwini Upadhyay, said “large scale violence has been reported in the city and evidences are being destroyed. Samajwadi Party-led Uttar Pradesh government is not recommending a CBI probe and the state investigating agencies are not doing their work properly". To this, the bench said, "From your petition there is no evidence to suggest there is any lapse on the part of state investigating agency. Without any evidence that state investigating agencies are not working properly, courts cannot interfere." The bench asked the petitioner to withdraw the petition and termed it dismissed as withdrawn. The apex court had yesterday agreed to hear the plea which had sought an urgent hearing, saying CBI probe was necessary, looking at the gravity of the violence. Twenty nine people, including Mathura SP Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Santosh Kumar Yadav were killed during the clash between the police and encroachers that broke out in the city on June 2 when police tried to evict illegal occupants, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, from Jawahar Bagh on Allahabad High Court orders. Upadhyay, in his plea said that “the court may also take suo motu cognizance of the matter and direct the CBI enquiry, as it is necessary to find out the truth, root cause of the incident and nexus among executive, legislature and the said group". The petitioner had also sought a direction to the state and Centre for framing of a uniform policy for compensation for families of the deceased in such cases. It had also claimed the union government was ready for a CBI inquiry into the incident but Uttar Pradesh government was developing cold feet in recommending CBI probe.