The court has rejected the NIA’s application to shift the hearing of the murder case of Dera devotee Pradeep Kataria, who was allegedly involved in sacrilege charges in Kotkapura about two years ago, from the Faridkot court to Delhi. Pradeep Kataria was allegedly accused of stealing the Saroop of Guru Granth Sahib. He was shot dead by armed men outside his house. In this case, the Faridkot police have so far arrested nine accused and have also presented a challan against them in the court. About a dozen witnesses have also testified in this case. The NIA had filed an application in the court demanding that this case should be tried in the NIA court in Delhi. The court rejected the NIA’s application after hearing the side of all the parties involved in this case.
According to the new criminal law, no investigating agency can re-investigate the case after the challan is presented in the court and if any agency wants to re-investigate, it has to take permission from the court, but the NIA had not sought any permission from the court to investigate the case further. The agency had only applied for transfer of the case. The NIA did not register a separate case in this murder case but had investigated the case registered by the police on its own.
