Arguing that the city police has done substantial investigation in the murder case of senior journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, Maharashtra government today opposed petitions filed in the Bombay High Court seeking transfer of probe to CBI.

"The Crime Branch of city police has probed the matter. The investigation is almost coming to an end. The stringent provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) have been applied against the eight arrested accused," advocate general Ravi Kadam argued.

A division bench of Justices Ranjana Desai and R V More was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations filed by advocate V P Patil, journalist S Balakrishnan and Press Club, Mumbai, seeking CBI probe into the murder.

The advocate general told the court that only "exceptional" cases which require special expertise and knowledge is handed over to an independent agency like CBI.

"The petitioners have not placed any material to substantiate their prayer to transfer the case to CBI," Kadam said.

Referring to allegations made by the petitioners that the police may not conduct a fair investigation as Dey had during his career written several stories revealing the nexus between police and underworld, Kadam said, "No specific allegation has been specified against the investigating police team. Just because of one black sheep the image of the entire police force cannot be marred."

The bench, after hearing the arguments, reserved its order.