The Supreme Court, on Friday, declined to transfer the trial of Kamlesh Tiwari Murder Case from Lucknow to Delhi, and instead transferred the case to Prayagraj.

Justice S K Kaul passed the order on the plea filed by Ashfaq Hussain and other accused persons seeking transfer of the case from Lucknow to Delhi.

Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora appeared for the accused and pleaded that the matter be transferred to Prayagraj, when the Bench was not inclined to shift the trial out of Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.

Supreme Court had issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government in 2020.

The accused had sought transfer of trial from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi, claiming that there is a threat to their life.

The Lucknow police had, in December, filed a charge sheet against 13 persons in the case. The police had said that the two main accused, Ashfaq and Moinuddin, has been charged with murder while 11 others had been booked under other provisions of IPC, including sheltering accused, cheating, dishonesty, and criminal conspiracy.

The persons named in the charge sheet are Ashfaq, Moinuddin, Rashid Pathan, Faizan, Mohsin Sheikh, Sayeed Asif, Mohd Naved, Raees Ahmad, Asif Raza, Kamran, Yusuf Khan, Zafar Sadiq, and Kaifi Ali.

According to the charge sheet, the accused conspired to kill Kamlesh Tiwari who had made a 'disrespectful' remark against Prophet Mohammad in 2015.



With PTI input