May still form SIT on Elgar: NCP minister

MUMBAI: Three weeks after the National Investigation Agency took over the probe into the Elgar Parishad case, the NCP-led state home department may still decide to form a Special Investigation Team to look into the matter in keeping with the demand made by NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
Home minister Anil Deshmukh of NCP said on Monday that under Section 6 (5) of the NIA Act, the Union home affairs ministry has the powers to take over the probe, but under Section 10 of the same Act, the state government is empowered to probe the scheduled offence.NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the SIT may conduct a “parallel probe” along with the NIA. Deshmukh is expected to take up the proposal with CM Uddhav Thackeray in a day or two.
Despite NCP’s opposition, Thackeray had on February 12 granted consent to handing over the probe to the NIA.
Under Section 6(5) of the NIA Act, the Central government may suo motu direct the NIA to investigate an offence, while Section 10 of the Act states that nothing contained in the Act shall affect the powers of the state government to investigate and prosecute any scheduled offence under any law. Deshmukh’s statement on the Act came after NCP president Sharad Pawar’s interaction with NCP ministers in the city on Monday. Pawar, who has consistently demanded an SIT inquiry by a retired judge of Bombay high court in the case in which nine activists have been arrested for alleged links with the banned group CPI (Maoist), read out the key section of the NIA Act and critical observations of the Supreme Court. Pawar’s contention was that even if the NIA has taken over the probe into the case, it was well within the powers of the state government to conduct an independent probe.
However, senior IPS officers on Monday expressed serious reservations over the NCP’s proposal to set up an SIT. “The NIA has already taken over the probe, and in addition, a commission under the Commission of Inquiry Act has been set up to look into the caste violence that broke out after the Elgar Parishad meeting. Under such circumstances, an SIT will not serve any purpose. It will be a futile exercise. Significantly, several courts have rejected bail pleas of the accused, and the stand taken by Pune police has been upheld by all courts, including the apex court. More importantly, chargesheets have been filed and barring two persons, all the accused have been arrested,” a senior official said.