2018 murder case: SC refuses to interfere with Kerala HC verdict on transfer of probe to CBI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the Kerala High Court verdict which had set aside an order transferring to the CBI the probe into a 2018 murder case.

The case pertains to a man who was hacked to death allegedly due to the fallout of a clash between the workers of two political parties -- the CPI(M) and the Congress.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan was hearing a petition filed by the parents of 27-year-old victim Shuhaib who was found dead in Kannur district in February 2018.

Shuhaib's parents had initially approached the high court seeking to transfer the investigation of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

They had alleged before the high court that the attack on Shuhaib was the "fallout of a clash" between local CPI(M) and Congress workers over an incident in which the CPI(M) workers had allegedly vandalised the local Congress party office.

The parents had claimed that the Congress party workers, led by Shuhaib, had condemned the said act and organised a protest meet in retaliation.

A single judge of the high court had in March 2018 transferred the investigation of the case from a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the Inspector General of Police, Kannur district, to the CBI.

Later, the state of Kerala had approached a division bench of the high court challenging the single judge's order.

The division bench, in its judgment delivered in August 2019, had set aside the verdict of the single judge.

The parents of the victim approached the apex court challenging the verdict of the high court's division bench.

On Tuesday, the plea came up for hearing before the top court which observed that the incident had taken place in 2018 and now, the investigation was complete and charge sheet was also filed.

"Any interference at this stage would be detrimental to the case," the bench observed, adding that some political functionaries were also accused in the case.

"We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order. In any case, if during the trial, the role of any other accused comes to light, the parties are at liberty to take such steps as are permissible in law," it said.