nagpur :- SC notice to CBI on Khairlanji case (IMP)

The Supreme Court on Friday issued show cause notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) while hearing special leave appeals (SLPs) filed by the accused of the Khairlanji killings. A division bench comprising justices VS Sirpurkar and TS Thakur clubbed the three SLPs - one filed by accused along with that of CBI and Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, the lone survivor of dastardly killings that rocked the country about four years back.

According to counsels for all eight accused - Neeraj Khandewale and Sudip Jaiswal - the apex court will fix next date of hearing after premier investigation agency files its reply.

The Nagpur bench on July 15 had commuted death sentence awarded to six accused by the Bhandara sessions court and handed them lifer of 25 years without remission along with two others.

It all started on September 29, 2006, when Bhotmange's family, including wife Surekha, daughter Priyanka and sons - Sudhir and Roshan, were brutally lynched with the sharp-edged weapons by a frenzied mob at a nondescript Khairlanji village in Bhandara. Ad hoc additional sessions judge at Bhandara SS Das then sentenced Gopal and Shishupal to life behind bars after 16-month prolonged trial on September 24, 2008. Death penalty was awarded to Sakru Binjewar, Shatrughna Dhande, Vishwanath Dhande, Ramu Dhande, Jagdish Mandlekar, and Prabhakar Mandlekar. The accused were found guilty of brutal executions and were convicted for murder, unlawful assembly and rioting, as well as destruction of evidence (IPC 302, 148, 149 and 201 respectively).