New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma seeking prosecution of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in an alleged 1991 murder in which Sharma had also pleaded for a directive to the CBI to take up further investigations into the case.

Sharma had also claimed that Nitish had concealed his involvement in the murder at the time of filing his nomination papers during all the elections he had contested.

The apex court, which had earlier issued notice only to the Election Commission (EC) to the limited extent of examining Sharma's claim that the Bihar CM had concealed the murder case against him in his nomination papers, dismissed the entire PIL after the poll panel stated that Kumar did disclose a case pending against him in the nomination papers he had filed in 2012.

"We do not find any merit in the writ petition and is dismissed," Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said in the order after recording the submission made by the EC's counsel Amit Kumar to the court.

Besides seeking criminal prosecution of Nitish, the petition had also wanted the apex court to determine whether persons with criminal cases can be allowed to hold any constitutional post such as the chief minister of a state.

Sharma in his PIL claimed that Nitish was one of the five accused in the murder of a voter, Sitaram Singh, on November 16, 1991, when a re-poll was being held in Barh Lok Sabha constituency in Patna district. The then incumbent MLA Yogendra Yadva was among five accused along with Nitish, Sharma's petition alleged.

It was submitted that though an FIR for murder and various other offences was registered against Nitish, Yadav and three others no further investigation was carried by the local Pandarak police station. The local police after a gap of 17 years in 2008 filed a closure report before the additional chief judicial magistrate.

Rajaram Singh, brother of the deceased Sitaram Singh, filed a protest petition against the closure before the magistrate. The magistrate in turn rejected the closure report and issued summons for the appearance of Nitish and other accused to appear before him on September 9, 2009. However, Nitish and the other accused approached Patna High Court, which stayed the summons on September 8, 2009.

Since then the stay was not vacated, the petition by Sharma alleged.