A local court here has rejected a CBI plea seeking custody of firearms recovered from a man arrested in connection with the killing of Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari's associate Chandranath Rath, prosecution officials said on Friday.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had moved an application before the court of chief judicial magistrate Shailesh Kumar Pandey on Thursday, seeking custody of the seized weapons for sending them to a forensic laboratory in connection with the May 6 murder.
Senior prosecution officer P N Swami told PTI that the court rejected the agency's plea.
Later, CBI officers held discussions with local prosecution authorities regarding the future course of action, and the agency is now preparing to file a revision petition against the order, prosecution sources said.
The police said the weapons were recovered from Naveen Kumar Singh, 35, a resident of Thamhanpura village under Phephna Police Station limits.
Naveen Singh was arrested on Wednesday by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), following inputs shared by the CBI, which is probing the murder case.
An FIR under the Arms Act was registered at Phephna Police Station on the complaint of STF inspector Anil Kumar Singh.
According to the complaint, the STF received information from the CBI that Naveen Singh was allegedly in possession of illegal firearms linked to the murder investigation in Bengal.
The police said an STF team from Varanasi came to Ballia on May 19 and detained Naveen Singh near Vishunipur.
During questioning, Naveen Singh allegedly told investigators that Gyanendra Pratap Singh alias Mannu, Raj Kumar Singh and Golu Singh had met him on May 7 in a Swift Dzire car, and Mannu handed him a bag carrying firearms.
The STF recovered the bag from near a Mahindra showroom on the national highway.
The police said the seized items were three pistols, one of them foreign-made, two revolvers, 45 live cartridges of .32 bore, three empty shells, and a mobile phone.
