New Delhi, Tuesday 31 August 2010: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to all the accused in the Bhopal gas leak case on a petition by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking to restore against them the stringent charge of culpable homicide, which attracts a maximum punishment of 10 years’ jail term.

A bench comprising Chief Justice S. H. Kapadia and Justices Altamas Kabir and R. V. Raveendran sought response from the accused on the curative petition filed by the probe agency seeking recall of the court’s 14-year-old judgment that had diluted the offence.

The CBI has sought reconsideration of the September 13, 1996 Supreme Court judgment which had whittled down the charge to ‘causing death due to rash and negligent act’ against former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others.