Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar today explained his decision not to disqualify the members of the Uddhav Thackeray camp — a question the Shiv Sena UBT chief had pointedly asked. While the naming of Bharat Gogawale as whip “proper”, it is not certain that the whip to attend the party meeting was “adequately and properly served” to Thackeray faction MLAs, he said.

“It appears that this service is not complete. There was no evidence to show this whip was properly served upon the MLAs belonging to the Thackeray faction. Since this filter was not cleared, it was not appropriate for me, under the principles of natural justice, to hold them disqualified,” Mr Narwekar told NDTV in an exclusive interview, declaring all the details are mentioned in the written version of his order.

Mr Thackray had raised the point today while talking to the media, questioning why, if their version of the constitution was not valid, they were not disqualified.

Mr Narwekar — while delivering his verdict on disqualification petitions pending for since June 2022 — had named Mr Shinde’s faction as the “real Shiv Sena”, basing his decision on a 1999 version of the party constitution that is with the Election Commission.

The version of the constitution given by Mr Thackeray in 2018 is “not on record”, Mr Narwekar had said. Going by that constitution, Uddhav Thackeray did not have the power to remove Eknath Shinde from Shiv Sena, he had added.

He had also dismissed the petitions to disqualify MLAs from both camps — a move that was strongly questioned by critics.

“You can awaken a person who is sleeping but it is rather impossible to wake up a person who is pretending to sleep,” was Mr Narwekar’s response.

He added that skipping a party meeting is more about dissent than violation of rules and so does not call for disqualification. The right to dissent is included in the constitutional right of freedom of speech, he added.

After splitting in June 2022, the two Sena factions had served disqualification notices against each other. The list of the Eknath Shinde faction had 14 of the 16 MLAs supporting Uddhav Thackeray.

The Thackeray faction had filed disqualification petitions against 40 MLAs from Team Shinde.

Mr Narwekar also answered the criticism that he had violated Supreme Court orders, failing to understand its brief — a point that was also voiced by Mr Thackeray.

“The courts had asked me to say which is the real political party, because the whip of the original political party would be applicable and should be recognised. That’s what the court said,” Mr Narwekar said. So after recognising Bharat Gogawale as the whip, it was also his job to ensure that the whip was properly served, he added.

Earlier this evening, Mr Thackeray had launched an all-out attack on Mr Narwekar.

“He (the Speaker) has made a thief the master of the House,” Mr Thackeray said, voicing doubts that Mr Narwekar had any idea of what he was tasked with by the Supreme Court.

“He has given a decision that exceeds the brief of the Supreme Court. The court had given a framework, but he distorted it into something else… He should have made laws against party hopping stricter. Instead, he was busy clearing a path for himself,” he had added.

Rubbishing the criticism directed at him as “baseless allegations”, Mr Narwekar said if someone believes his order is untenable in law or unjustified, they should explain their reasoning. “Kindly bring out the shortcomings in that order,” he said.

A New York Court has ordered the federal government to respond to a motion filed by lawyers of Nikhil Gupta seeking material relating to charges against him in a conspiracy to kill a Khalistani terrorist on American soil.

“On Januray 4, 2024, defence counsel filed a motion to compel production of discovery, requesting that the Court enter an order directing the Government to begin providing defense counsel with discovery material. The Court hereby directs the government to file a reply to the Motion to Compel within three days of the date of this order,” US District Judge Victor Marrero said in the order.

US federal prosecutors have charged that Gupta was working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada.

Gupta, 52, of India has been charged with murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Matthew G. Olsen has said.

Prosecutors said that Czech authorities arrested and detained Gupta on June 30, 2023, pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and the Czech Republic. Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic at the request of the United States in connection with his participation in the plot to murder the individual.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The United States has objected to a motion by Nikhil Gupta – the Indian national accused of conspiring to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun – seeking proof of charges against him. The US govenment said it would only provide the information when Mr Gupta – being held in a Czech Republic prison pending extradition – appears, and is arraigned in, a New York City court.

The US government was responding to a ‘Motion to Compel Production of Discovery’ filed by Mr Gupta’s legal team in a New York court last week. Mr Gupta’s lawyers requested the court to direct federal prosecutors to provide “materials relevant to (our) ability to defend the charges”.

On Monday US District Judge Victor Marrero gave the federal government three days to respond.

In that response, filed on third day, the US government said it was “prepared to produce discovery promptly upon the defendant’s appearance”. The US government also argued Mr Gupta “is not entitled to discovery (before then) and identifies no good reason” to receive the prosecution’s material, and that witholding such material is “consistent with federal rules of criminal procedure”.

Earlier, Mr Gupta’s lawers in the US had said their client had received “no evidence or documentation of any sort… other than the indictment itself”, and that the ‘Motion to Compel Production of Discovery’ is “particularly appropriate here… as he is being subject to repeated interrogations by US officials without presence of counsel representing him in his criminal case”.

READ | New York Court Asks For Proof Against Indian Man Facing Murder Plot Charge

“The defence counsel present in Prague (in the Czech Republic, where Mr Gupta is in prison pending extradition) has no evidence… other than bare indictment. Accordingly, this Court should order the government to comply with the defence discovery request here,” the motion said.

Nikhil Gupta, 52, is accused of conspiring with an as-yet unnamed Indian government employee – codenamed CC-1 – to hire a ‘hitman’ – an undercover US federal agent – to kill Mr Pannun, an American-Canadian citizen. US prosecutors claim to have communication between the two, in which the latter asked the former to plan the killing. In return, a criminal case against him in Gujarat was dropped.

If convicted, Nikhil Gupta faces twin 10-year jail terms – one each for the murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charges.

READ | Who Is Nikhil Gupta, Man Charged In Failed Plot To Kill Khalistan Terrorist

A Prague court has approved an initial request for his extradition to the United States “but several layers of judicial review remain before any final extradition order (is issued)”, his lawyers have said.

Last month Mr Gupta also approached the Supreme Court in India, via a family member called ‘X’, claiming human rights violations. Specifically, it claimed a breach of fundamental rights, including “forced consumption of beef and pork” that he found offensive as a “devout Hindu and vegetarian”.

The petition was dismissed with the court noting the matter as “sensitive” and one with “international implications. It also said it had to respect the sovereignty of courts in other nations.

READ | Supreme Court Dismisses Petition Of Indian in US Murder Plot

“The only intervention we can look into is consular access as per Vienna Convention, which you yourself say in the petition that you have got…” Justice Sanjiv Khanna said.

Also last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first public comment on a topic that has the potential to disrupt economic and diplomatic relations between India and the US. 

Speaking exclusively to the Financial Times, Mr Modi said, “If a citizen of ours has done anything, good or bad, we are ready to look into it.” He also said India-US ties could not be derailed over “a few incidents”.

READ | PM Modi Breaks Silence On US’ Sikh Murder Plot Claim

Meanwhile, in its formal response to the charges against an Indian citizen, the External Affairs Ministry said “India takes such inputs seriously… and relevant departments are already examining the issue”.

With input from agencies

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