New Delhi, Oct 19 : The Supreme Court Monday extended its Oct 9 order halting till Oct 30 the arrest of Maharashtra Rural Development Minister Siddharam Mhetre for his alleged role in the murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker in the state.

A bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Mukundakam Sharma extended the tenure of its order protecting the minister from arrest as the state government had not filed its reply on the minister's lawsuit challenging his impending arrest following registration of a criminal case against him.

The bench accordingly restrained the state government from arresting the minister till Oct 30 on the plea by him seeking anticipatory bail.

The minister had come to the apex court challenging a Bombay High Court ruling which earlier had rejected his plea for anticipatory bail, observing that the allegations against him were serious and needed a deeper probe in public interest.

A sessions court in the district had earlier rejected Mhetre's bail plea following which he had approached the high court.

A BJP worker, Bhimanna Kore, had died Sep 26 in a clash between two groups at Shevgaon village near Akkalkot in Solapur (south Maharashtra).

The BJP accused Mhetre of instigating the mob though he was not present in the village at the time of the incident. (IANS)