Hyderabad:
The Supreme Court on Friday granted four weeks time to state government to file a rejoinder to the plea for cancellation of bail granted to top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy by the High Court in connection with the killing of 9 persons including a senior Congress leader.
The court had on January 27 stayed the Andhra Pradesh High Court order granting bail to Ghandy accused of killing of then Deputy Assembly Speaker Narsi Reddy and eight others in August 15, 2005.
A bench of justices BS Chauhan and JS Khehar passed the order after the state's counsel Mahavir Singh Prasad and Mahesh Babu urged the court to grant time to file a rejoinder to the reply filed by Ghandy in pursuant to the apex court's decision to stay the bail.
While staying the bail, the Supreme court had issued notices to Ghandy who is at present lodged in Delhi's Tihar Jail. The Maoist leader, who has been in jail since 2009 after his arrest, is facing trial in around 20 criminal cases in different parts of the country.
Congress leader Chittem Narsi Reddy, and 8 others were killed by Maoists in Narayanapet in Mahbubnagar district on August 15, 2005.
On August 10, 2011, the High Court had granted bail to Ghandy on the ground that there was no evidence to deny him bail.
The state government had claimed Ghandy had confessed to his role in a statement made after his arrest in Delhi in 2009.