NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is likely to hear the Kathua gang rape-and-murder case of eight –year old girl along with the petitions seeking shifting of the trial to Chandigarh and handing over the inquiry to the CBI today.

A three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, would hear the prayer of the victim's father for shifting the trial to Chandigarh and the plea of the accused seeking handing over the investigation to CBI.

On January 10, the rape-survivor, an eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community, had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in the Jammu province. After a week her body was found in the same area.

The Top court had earlier given a strict warning and noted it would transfer the Kathua gang rape-and-murder case from the local court in the "slightest possibility" of lack of fair trial, asserting the "real concern" was to hold appropriate prosecution.

Earlier, the victim’s father had moved the top court holding threat to the family, a friend and their lawyer Deepika Singh Rajawat. A separate plea was also petitioned by two accused seeking that the trial in the case be carried out in Jammu and the investigation handed over to the CBI.