Mumbai: Under fire from the Bombay High Court for the delay in transfering the Hari Masjid case to CBI, the state government today said it will issue a necessary notification by February 8.

A division bench of Justices S B Mhase and V K Tahilramani observed that the state had not followed the regular procedure in transferring the case to CBI. When public prosecutor sought more time to issue notification, the court granted two days. The government is to produce a copy of the new proposal for transfer of the case to CBI before the court by Monday.

Though on October 10, 2007, government had told the High Court that decision to transfer case had been taken, it only sent a letter to CBI for this purpose. No notification of consent was issued. Two months later the CBI informed the state it would not take up the case as it was overburdened and the case was 15 years old.

State told the court earlier this week that it had decided to re-submit the case to CBI. Under Delhi Police Special Establishment Act, if any case within state police's jurisdiction is to be handed over to CBI, state government has to notify its consent first. Hari Masjid case is one of the 1993 Mumbai riot incidents where Srikrishna Commission had blamed the police for unjustified firing inside a mosque in which six persons died. One of the surviors, Farooq Mhapkar (booked by police as a rioter), has moved HC seeking CBI probe.

In recent two instances, namely Khairlanji murders and Nanded riots, where probe was handed over to CBI, state had issued notifications of consent. It was not done in this case, the court noted.

Source : PTI