The Kerala high court reserved its judgment on Thursday on a petition seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the murder of Muthoot business group scion Paul Muthoot George in August 2009.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice S R Bannurmath and Justice Thothathil B Radhakrishnan reserved the orders after elaborate hearing on the petition filed by M G George, chairman of the Muthoot group and Paul's father.
When hearing resumed on the petition today, the CBI informed the court that according to a 1956 order, Kerala had given consent to Delhi Police Establishment Act to investigate specific cases.
The CBI, which derives it power to investigate cases from the Act, was countering the state's contention that without its concurrence, investigation could not be handed over to the central agency.
The state government on Thursday informed the court that it was not afraid of the CBI investigation in the case and that a "fair probe" had been conducted by the state police.
The court had on January 12 rapped the state police for conducting investigation in the case in only "one direction".
The investigation should have "spread to all directions" regarding the commercial and other connections of Paul, who was brutally murdered by a gang, the bench had said.
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