National Investigation Agency (NIA) today told a special MCOCA court that it has not conducted fresh investigation into the 2006 Malegaon blasts case "as it can only be done as per the directions of higher judiciary".
"It is a settled law. The re-investigation or fresh investigation can be done only as per the directions of higher judiciary," the NIA said, adding that it had only conducted "further investigation" into the case.
The agency filed its reply after Dhan Singh, one of the accused arrested in the 2006 blasts case, had moved an application in the court last month saying that further investigation done by NIA is totally "illegal".
The accused had sought that the investigation carried out by the NIA be declared as "illegal".
The accused had sought to know why and under whose directions the NIA had carried out an investigation, wherein they found the complicity of four accused, suspected to be members of a right wing extremist group.
"Whatever has been done by NIA, under the guise of further investigation is totally bad in law and hence the material collected by NIA has no legal sanctity," the application filed by him last month said.
"NIA is not a super agency which supersedes the earlier investigation (carried out by ATS and CBI) and all that is stated by NIA cannot be said to be above suspicion," it said.
The NIA, in its reply to his application, in which he had sought court's permission to hear him during the hearing of the discharge applications filed by two accused - Mohammad Ali Alam Sheikh and Asif Khan Bashir Khan, said the accused had no locus standi in discharge applications filed by other accused.
