Cartridges don’t match,setback for prosecution

In a startling evidence before the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge S K Garg,the defence counsel examined an official of the Central government’s ammunition factory,who confirmed that the jacket (front portion of a cartridge) reportedly recovered from Sukhwinderjit’s body did not match the empty cartridge reportedly recovered from the site of the incident.

Deposing before the court on Thursday,assistant works manager of the Khadki ammunition factory in Pune,Amit Kumar Meena,categorically submitted that the jacket in question was not manufactured by their factory while admitting that the empty cartridge was their product.

This raised doubts that if the jacket was not part of the empty cartridge how could it have been fired from the 7.65 mm .32 bore pistol,which was reportedly used in the crime and the prosecution had allegedly recovered it on Brandy’s identification.

In his deposition,Meena stated that their factory manufactured ammunition with a KF stamp,which the empty cartridge in the case also bore,and there was no other ordinance factory in the country that manufactured ammunition with the same trade mark.

On seeing the empty cartridge in the case,he confirmed that since it bears KF stamp on its base,it was manufactured by their factory. However,when the jacket in the case was shown,Meena clarified that jackets of 7.65 mm .32 bore pistol manufactured by their factory have the led exposed from below whereas the jacket in the case has got its base covered without the lead being exposed.

He even presented a bullet he had brought from his factory with the lead exposed from below.

Sukhwinderjit,in his mid-30s,was shot dead while taking a stroll with his wife Neki Nalwa near their residence in Sector 69 in Mohali on December 4,2005. Neki and her alleged lover Brandy were arrested for murdering Sukhwinderjt and since then have been confined in Patiala Central Jail. In August 2009,Neki was denied bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the fifth time.

Though the High Court had in October 2008 directed the trial court in Mohali to conclude the proceedings in the case,preferably within six months,but even after over 30 months,the trial proceedings are still on.’