No ‘mystery’ killer in Gandhi murder, says amicus curiae
NEWDELHI: There is no need for a fresh investigation into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, senior advocate Amarendra Sharan told the Supreme Court, which had last October appointed him amicus curiae (friend of the court), in a case filed by a trustee of a right-wing organisation alleging a deeper conspiracy, including the involvement of a foreign power, in the killing.
Sharan submitted his report before a bench headed by Justice SA Bobde and said after scrutinising the documents he came to the conclusion there is no necessity to re-investigate the case.
The court will take up the senior advocate’s report on January 12, when it hears the petitioner, Dr Pankaj Phadnis, a researcher and a trustee of Abhinav Bharat, Mumbai, who asked for a fresh inquiry into the assassination.
Phadnis had sought an inquiry on the grounds that evidence pointing at the involvement of foreign agency, Force 136, had been overlooked.
Phadnis also alleged there was a larger conspiracy to kill Gandhi. He further wanted the investigation to clear the name of right wing ideologue Vinayak Damodar ‘Veer’ Savarkar, who he claimed, was unfairly named in the report of the JL Kapur Commission. Sharan said that a perusal of the records of the case established that no foreign agency was involved in the killing. He said the petitioner’s claim that the British influenced the investigation and the trial have not been substantiated in any manner and are mere “surmises.” “There is no documentary evidence in contemporary literature to prove that, there even existed such a secret service by the name of ‘Force 136’ and that, it was mandated to carry out the murder of Gandhi. Thus, any reliance upon such theories would be unwarranted,” Sharan said in the report. The lawyer said no evidentiary value can be given to the petitioner’s submission that the assassin Nathuram Godse was apprehended by a Central Intelligence Agency agent , Herbert Reiner at the place of the killing. Phadnis had also claimed that someone other than Godse had shot Gandhi.
Sharan said there was no evidence to establish that a mysterious person other than Na thu ram Godse had shot at Gandhi.