A petition filed in the Delhi High Court on Saturday accused Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi of influencing the investigation into the sedition case against Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union President Kanhaiya Kumar. The plea alleged that the police chief was “playing at the hands” of certain political parties, PTI reported. Petitioner city lawyer Satish Pandey said, “The charge of sedition and criminal conspiracy against the accused is not an individual offence, but it is a public offence, and every citizen of the nation is affected.”

In his petition, Pandey has sought a clarification of Bassi’s statements. While the police chief first said they will not give Kumar a clean chit, he later said the police will not oppose the JNU student’s bail plea. Pandey claimed these statements may influence a fair and transparent investigation, as well as court proceedings. He said the investigating officer could not conduct a fair investigation when “undue influential pressure” was imposed by such a high-ranking official.

The petitioner further sought for the police to not be allowed to not oppose Kumar’s bail plea, as the other absconding accused in the case may not be brought to court if he gets bail. The petition is likely to come up for hearing on Monday. Besides Bassi, Kumar, the central and Delhi governments were named as respondents in the plea.