The Punjab and Haryana High Court today reserved judgement on the bail plea of Inder Sain and Avtar Singh, the two accused in the murder of a journalist in Sirsa.
The two accused, the disciples of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa town, were allegedly involved in the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and another person, Ranjit Singh of Kurukshetra.
They were earlier granted interim anticipatory bail some time back by the High Court and have now prayed for its confirmation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has been entrusted with the probe into these murders, had opposed the grant of interim bail and insisted on the custodial interrogation of the two to uncover the conspiracy as per the mandamus with in the High Court.
Responding to the questions from the bench, the CBI counsel Rajan Gupta clarified that the weapon used in the murder of Chhatrapati belonged to the persons from the Dera and it had also been confirmed from the forensic report on the bullets fired.
The words `Dera Sacha Sauda‘ were also found to be inscribed on the walkie talkie recovered from the accused and the instruments were detected to be licenced in the name ofthe Dera, the CBI counsel further said.
When Justice Rajive Bhalla inquired if there was evidence against the Dera chief, then why the CBI had not arrested him so far, the counsel submitted that the probe was still in progress.
However, the CBI counsel reiterated that the two accused Inder Sain and Avtar Singh had given 90 per cent deceptive responses as confirmed by the polygraph tests too.
He reiterated that the custodial interrogation of the accused and dismissal of the bail plea was more than warranted in the interest of the investigation.
The counsel for the petitioners alleged that the CBI personnel were harassing the Dera persons in the context of the investigation, Rajan Gupta said it was the other way round as Dera management through its followers were creating hurdles in the investigation by organising protests, dharnas etc. and calling for an end to the probe.
