The Supreme Court has declined to order judicial inquiry or a probe by a Special Investigation Team into the alleged fake encounter killings of top Naxalite leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and a Delhi journalist Hemchandra Pandey.

A bench of justices Aftab Alam and C K Prasad said there is no reason to believe the allegation that the investigation conducted by the CBI into the encounter is not honest. The bench also directed the CBI today to file its investigation reports before the jurisdictional magistrate concerned in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh, where the encounter took place on July 1, 2010.

The apex court said that the Magistrate shall not be influenced by any observations or findings of the CBI report and should proceed in accordance with the law.

The apex court passed the order while disposing of the petition by Bineeta Pandey seeking a judicial inquiry or a probe by the SIT into the encounter.