New Delhi: The Delhi High Court (HC) on November 15 dismissed a petition seeking an independent inquiry into the Ansal Plaza shootout incident saying that there was no public interest involved in the writ petition filed by an advocate.

"We are not inclined to entertain the PIL (public interest litigation) wherein the petitioner is seeking a probe by an independent agency into the Ansal Plaza shootout case," a Bench comprising acting chief justice Devinder Gupta and A K Sikri said.

The court also declined a request by additional solicitor general K K Sud appearing for the Centre and Delhi police counsel Mukta Gupta for imposition of a cost on advocate C S Rathour who had filed the petition.

Sud said that the court had earlier imposed the cost of Rs 50,000 on him for filing a petition against government inviting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf for talks at Agra.

Declining the request for cost, the court said that it has not taken cognisance of the petition.

The court also took serious view of the advanced publicity given to the filing of the petition including one by Hari Krishna, claimed to be an eye-witness to the shootout incident.

Krishna's petition, filed on November 14, is likely to come up for hearing on November 18.

PTI