India, Sept. 26 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday questioned the maintainability of a petition filed by Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case accused Surendra Gadling and Sudhir Dhawale, contending the transfer of the case from the Pune police to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in January 2020 was politically motivated.

The Pune police had already filed a charge sheet and a supplementary charge sheet by then, whereas the NIA Act, 2008, had no provision empowering the central government to transfer an investigation after it had been completed, Gadling and Dhawale contended in their petition, filed shortly after the case was transferred to the NIA.

On Thursday, the division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Ranjitsinha Raja Bhonsale sa...