The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the order of the Calcutta high court handing over the probe into incidents of violence during Ram Navami celebrations in West Bengal to the National Investigation Agency.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and KV Viswanathan deferred the hearing on the plea of the West Bengal government challenging the high court order till after the summer vacation.
"We have not stayed the high court order and will take up the matter after summer vacation in the month of July,” the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for NIA.
The anti-terror probe agency has registered the case following a high court order.
During the hearing, senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Gopal Sankaranaraynan, representing the West Bengal government, said the high court has in its order referred to only one FIR related to the Chandan Nagar incident.
"We have instructions that the court may allow the probe of Chandan Nagar FIR to be done by NIA but rest five FIRs be allowed to be investigated by the state police," Sankaranaraynan said.
Singhvi said the NIA cannot be brought in for ordinary cases of violence unless it affects the country's security or sovereignty.
He said the NIA has a clear bar and it cannot be brought in just because someone says bombs might have been used in an incident.
"Either summoning of police officials by the NIA be stayed or the high court order be stayed till this court has adjudicated the appeal of the state government finally," he said.
The bench told Singhvi and Sankaranaraynan, "Assuming that the high court has referred to one FIR but all these incidents are part and parcel of the same transactions. Police used tear gas to control the situation and the high court has applied its mind that there is enough material to refer it to the NIA."
The bench said pursuant to the direction of the high court, investigation has been transferred and it is not a case where this court stultifies everything.
Mehta said the NIA has registered a case and, when the probe agency wrote to the state government to hand over the papers, it was told to wait for the decision of the apex court as it has challenged the order of the high court.
"Kindly clarify the position as we have registered the case," he urged the bench.
CJI Chandrachud said the apex court has not stayed the order of the high court.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and PS Patwalia, appearing for top state BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, said the NIA has registered a case, and even if the high court order is stayed, the investigation will go on.
The bench then deferred the hearing post summer vacation from May 22 to July 2.
On Thursday, the West Bengal government assailed the high court order transferring the probe to the NIA, saying no explosives were used and the direction was passed on a "politically-motivated" PIL filed by the leader of the opposition in the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari.
Singhvi has submitted the state police did not find any instance of use of explosives which could have warranted NIA's involvement in the investigation.
"There were no incidents involving the use of bombs. The police have looked into all the aspects and registered the FIRs," he said, adding in all six FIRs were lodged.
The bench pointed to the FIR the high court order had referred to in its order which said bombs were hurled.
"Use of explosives is a scheduled offence for which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) can be called in to investigate. The high court has recorded in its order that the police has deliberately omitted invoking the Explosive Substances Act in the FIRs registered in connection with the incidents of violence," the top court has said.
Singhvi said after the high court order, state police officers are being called by the NIA for questioning. He sought the HC order to be stayed.
On April 27, the Calcutta high court had ordered a probe by the NIA into the incidents of violence at Shibpur in Howrah and Rishra in Hooghly district during and after the Ram Navami celebrations.
The order was passed on a PIL by Adhikari and three other petitions seeking an NIA probe into the violence at these two places.
It had directed the state police to ensure all FIRs, documents, materials seized and CCTV footage be handed over to the NIA within two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.
"In the cases on hand, we prima facie find that there has been a deliberate attempt on the part of the concerned police not to register any offence under the provisions of the Explosives Substances Act," the high court had said in its order.
