JMFC Geeta Ahir today rejected the applications filed by Former IPS officers O P Mathur, P C Pande, suspended senior officer Rajkumar Pandian and ex-investigator of the case R K Patel, who had objected to the filing of chargesheet in the Danta court, instead of Special CBI court in Ahmedabad where CBI had filed FIR of this case on April 29, 2011.
The Court also refused to grant a stay to its order as prayed by the accused to enable them to challenge it in higher court.
Following this, new applications, on behalf of Amit Shah, O P Mathur, P C Pande and Geetha Johri were filed, challenging the legality of the chargesheet in naming them as accused in the encounter case without prior sanctions of the Gujarat government.
"At the time of the offence, for which they all been named accused, they were public servants and before registering any offences, under provisions of IPC against them, prior government sanctions under section 197 of Criminal Procedure Code are mandatory," said Advocate Mitesh Amin, who is representing the accused.
Court has fixed the hearing on these applications on September 27. MORE