SC dismisses review plea for reinvestigation into Mahatma Gandhi's assassination
New Delhi, Mar 4: The Supreme Court has found "no grounds" to recall its judgement rejecting the plea seeking reinvestigation into the alleged "larger conspiracy leading to" the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
The apex court refused to take into account the plea in the review petition that claimed that "fresh" documents and evidence would clear the air in the matter.
"We have carefully gone through the review petition and the connected papers filed therewith. We do not find any ground, whatsoever, to entertain the same. The review petition is, accordingly dismissed," a bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and L N Rao said in a recent order.
Mumbai-based researcher Pankaj Phadnis had filed a petition asking the apex court to peruse some books and a forensic report of the photographs of wounds on the body of Gandhi to decide the need for fresh probe into his killing.
The Supreme Court had rejected his earlier plea for re-investigation into the assassination on March 28, 2018.
In the fresh plea, he had given reference from two book -- "Who Killed Gandhi" by Lourenco de Salvador written in 1963 and "India Remembered" by Pamella Mountbatten, daughter of the then Governor General Lord L. Mountbatten.
He had claimed that examination of the two books would lead to conclusion that the person/persons in the highest echelons of power, were "complicit" in the murder of Gandhi.
In the plea, he claimed that he had obtained a report of a well known expert in the United States who has categorically confirmed that four wounds were visible on the chest of Gandhi in the photograph obtained by him from the National Gandhi Museum, Delhi and which had been published on January 31, 1948 by a prominent newspaper and has been on display for the last 70 years in the museum.
Phadnis, who is also the trustee of Abhinav Bharat Charitable Trust, filed the petition seeking recall of the March 28 verdict by which the apex court had rejected his attempt to get the probe into Gandhi's death reopened, saying it would be an exercise in futile.
However, in his review petition, Phadnis claimed the apex court did not have the opportunity to examine the material which he had secured and further some of the facts he brought in the rejoinder affidavit were not considered.
The petitioner claimed that the apex court only relied on the submission of a senior advocate, who was appointed as amicus curiae in the matter, and his reply to the amicus' report was not taken into account.
Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948 and nine accused were tried for the conspiracy and murder. A trial court on February 10, 1949 convicted seven accused and acquitted one. One of the accused is absconding.
The petitioner had questioned the 'three bullet theory' relied upon by various courts to hold the conviction of Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte, who were hanged. He had contended that there was need to examine whether there was a fourth bullet, which was fired by someone other than Godse.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was given benefit of doubt due to lack of evidence.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Air India's A350 aircraft enroute to London faces tech issue; returns to Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): Air India's A350 aircraft enroute to London Heathrow returned to the national capital due to a technical issue on Thursday afternoon after being airborne for nearly seven hours.
The same A350-900 aircraft VT-JRF had faced a technical issue on March 15, following which the plane operating the flight from New York to Delhi was diverted to the Irish town of Shannon, sources said.
An Air India spokesperson said its flight AI111, operating from Delhi to London on Thursday, made a precautionary air-return to the national capital following a suspected technical issue.
"The aircraft landed safely and consistent with Air India's high safety standards, it is currently subject to extensive technical evaluations, which will require additional time to complete," the spokesperson said in a statement.
According to the sources, noises were heard in the aircraft following which it was diverted.
The spokesperson also regretted the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to the unforeseen situation and said the airline was making every effort to ensure passengers are able to continue their journey to London at the earliest.
Details about the number of passengers onboard could not be ascertained.
The aircraft operating the flight AI111 was airborne for around four hours before the decision was taken to divert the plane when it was in the Saudi Arabia airspace. In total, the plane was airborne for nearly seven hours before landing back in the national capital, as per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.
The flight had taken off from Delhi around 6 am on Thursday and landed back at about 12.30 pm.
Air India started operating A350-900 planes from January 2024.
