Apex court tells CBI to give report on Azad's killing

The Supreme Court Thursday directed the CBI to submit before a magistrate in Andhra Pradesh its probe report on the alleged staged shootout killing of Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and journalist H.C. Pandey in 2010.

The apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C.K. Prasad gave a direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after it disposed of two petitions seeking an independent probe into the shootout.

Pandey's widow Bineeta Pandey and activist Swami Agnivesh had sought a judicial probe or an investigation by a special investigation team into the gun battle, alleging that it was staged.

Azad and Pandey were killed in an exchange of fire between the Maoists and Andhra Pradesh Police in a forested areas in Andhra Pradesh's Adilabad district July 1, 2010.

The court said the petitioners could raise all the issues before the first class magistrate in Adilabad in whose court the CBI would submit its report.

During the hearing, the CBI said it would file a report seeking the closure of the case.
The CBI March 16 told the Supreme Court that the gun battle in which Azad and Pandey were killed was genuine.