Jharsuguda: The Jharsuguda district and sessions court here on Friday rejected Crime Branch petition, seeking permission to take Gopal Das, the lone accused in the murder of Odisha Health Minister Naba Das, to National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, for further examination.
Sources said that the petition was rejected on technical ground and not on merit of its request.
The CB had moved the district and sessions court last month after a lower court rejected its plea on the premise that it had already exhausted its option of taking the accused on two weeks custody. In the revised plea, it pleaded the court direction to jail authorities to take Gopal to NIMHANS for three weeks and submit the report to the court and a copy to the investigators.
Sources said the probe agency sought the special permission since the four-member team of mental health experts, which had examined Gopal, were of the opinion that detailed examination of the accused was needed to come to a definite conclusion about his mental health.
While Gopal has confessed to have shot the minister, the CB is heavily banking on the proposed mental health assessment as the former may take the plea of “insanity defence” in the court.
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