The Supreme Court today allowed withdrawal of a plea seeking investigation into a four-year- old incident in which five members of a Nepalese family had set themselves ablaze and died in Gujarat's Rajkot.
The top court gave its nod after petitioner Rajkot resident Kaushik Chandrakantbhai Vyas who claimed to be an eyewitness to the 2013 incident said he had received a call from senior police official of Gujarat assuring him security.
A bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and U U Lalit said prayer made in the plea has been addressed and petitioner is permitted to withdraw the plea.
Vyas has sought an independent investigation into the suicide committed by Bharat Mansinhbhai Vishwakarma and his four family members.
He had also sought security cover claiming threat to his life and recording of his statement in the case.
The plea, filed through advocate Pyoli Swatija, alleged that one of the victims in his dying declaration had alleged that the gujarat chief minister was "indirectly responsible" for the incident and the police had not probed his alleged role.
In 2013, the five had committed suicide at the Rajkot Municipal Corporation office premises fearing eviction from the society they had been living in for over three decades.
The corporation had issued them notices for eviction. Their plea challenging the eviction had been rejected by a local court. They were residing at the common plot of Chhotunagar cooperative housing society in the Raiya area of Rajkot. Following the incident, they succumbed to injuries.
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