J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said that there is “absolutely no need for a CBI probe” into the rape and murder case of an eight-year-old Muslim minor girl in Kathua.

Her claims came after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the case to be handed over to CBI was filed in the Supreme Court. Mufti also asserted that if people don’t trust the Crime Branch of J&K police, then there is no one left to be trusted in the state.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will be hearing a petition today, filed by victim’s father, who sought the transfer of the trial to Chandigarh. However, the state government is against the petition.

“I am very clear about this case. J&K Police’s Crime Branch has done a very good investigation, collected all the evidence scientifically. Now the trial will be in the court, which will decide the outcome. We are convinced that there is absolutely no need for a CBI inquiry. We cannot take such a decision because the accused are demanding it,’’ reports quoted Mufti as saying.

She further added that those who are questioning the efforts of the J&K police “have a vested interest and they are aimed to protect the accused of the heinous crime”.

She also cited the instance when a villager was tied by Army to a jeep in Budgam, last year. She said, “We were told not to be critical of the illegal action because it will lower the morale of the forces. What about J&K Police? If you don’t trust J&K Police, which is at the forefront of a war in the State and is fighting in very difficult circumstances, who is left to be trusted in J&K”?

“My question is, why are the accused in this case desperately seeking a CBI inquiry? Why are they convinced about the outcome of such an inquiry? And when does a government decide the investigating agency based on what the accused in such a case want? We have serious challenges ahead and we cannot allow a communal flare-up to burn everything in our state. Our government handled this case very well. Any misstep could have lead to a situation where the entire state would have burnt in communal violence,” she said, adding, “there are people who are hell-bent (on making) this heinous crime into a Hindu-Muslim issue,” said Mufti.