The Central Bureau of Investigation should take Haren Pandya murder case to the Supreme Court in appeal, Gujarat government's spokesperson Jay Narayan Vyas said in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
Vyas also quipped that CBI "works under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister".
"The high court has released the accused on technical grounds (from murder charge), so the CBI should take this matter further to the Supreme Court," Vyas, also the state health minister, said talking to mediapersons.
"And it (CBI) should ensure that whoever are the accused and found guilty are given the strictest of the punishment," he said.
Two days ago, Gujarat high court dropped charges of murder against the 12 persons who had been convicted for murder of Haren Pandya, former minister of state for home, in 2003.
The high court upheld the conviction for criminal conspiracy and offences under POTA. When asked for government's reaction to the demand of Jagruti Pandya (Haren Pandya's wife) that the case should be probed afresh, Vyas said: "Within hours of Pandya's murder, state government had asked for independent CBI inquiry, and succeeded in getting it."
"Therefore, as far as we are concerned, the state government has done whatever was required to be done right on day one."
