New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay criminal proceedings initiated in a Varanasi court against Congress’ Uttar Pradesh unit chief Ajay Rai in a case registered in 2010 under the Gangsters Act.
A vacation bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Rajesh Bindal issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on a petition filed by Rai against the Allahabad High Court order. The apex court has scheduled the hearing of the case for July 15.
The FIR in the case was lodged on March 26, 2010 by a person named Bhanu Pratap Singh at Chetganj police station in Varanasi. Rai lost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the third time in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi seat. The High Court, while dismissing the petition filed by Rai and four others, said that the hearing of the case is in the final stage and nine witnesses have testified.
The High Court had said, “Although, there is no time limit prescribed for filing a petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, it should have been filed within the appropriate period. It is clear that there has been inordinate and undue delay in filing the petition and it is completely undesirable to quash the proceedings at this stage in the trial.”
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 25, 2024, 23:12 IST