The BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government has objected to the Centre’s move of unilaterally handing over the Sunil Joshi murder case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The state government has written to the Union home ministry questioning the authority of the NIA in taking over the case, arguing that the Central agency did not exist in 2007 when the murder of RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi, an accused in Samjhauta Express blast case and three other cases, took place. The NIA was constituted in 2009 as a result of the NIA Act, 2008.
Senior government sources said that notwithstanding the objections raised by the state government , the Centre has issued a notification handing over the case to the NIA.
The agency will soon approach the local court seeking transfer of related case material from the Madhya Pradesh police, they said .
Challenging the MHA’s move to ‘’suo moto’’ hand over the case to the NIA, the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government also contended that the state police has already filed a chargesheet against certain persons, including Sadhvi Praghya Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon 2008 case, in connection with the murder of Joshi.
Government sources, however, said that the home ministry will soon reply to the list of objections raised by the state government.