Rajni Patil leaves Bombay High Court on Friday. (PTI)

Mumbai, July 13: Barely a week ahead of the presidential election, the ghost of Pratibha Patil’s past has come to haunt her again.

A fresh petition has been filed in Bombay High Court, demanding that the CBI question the UPA presidential nominee before the July 19 poll in connection with the 2005 murder of the Jalgaon Congress committee president, Vishram Patil.

The petition was filed by Rajni Patil, Vishram’s widow who had suddenly appeared at a former BJP minister’s house in Delhi last month to launch an attack on Pratibha, triggering a round of mudslinging in the race to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

At a news conference held after that, Rajni, a Jalgaon-based professor, had accused the former Rajasthan governor of using her influence to subvert investigations into the murder in which Pratibha’s brother G.N. Patil has been named.

Similar allegations had been made immediately after the murder, leading to the transfer of the case from Jalgaon police to the CID. Following a petition by an accused who was arrested, the case was eventually handed over to the CBI on a directive from the Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court in February.

Repeating the charges in her petition, Rajni urged the high court to monitor the probe and direct the CBI to interrogate Pratibha and her brother before the presidential election.

She argued that if Pratibha got elected, she may get presidential immunity.

The division bench of Justices R.M.S. Khandeparkar and V.K. Tahilramani adjourned the matter till July 17, but did not pass an order.

Bengal support

Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today told Pratibha in the Assembly that the Left parties would extend “full support’’ to her.