Earlier statements were made under duress: daughter

In a deposition before the court of Additional District and Sessions judge S K Aggarwal on Tuesday,11-year-old Osean Sandhu...

In a deposition before the court of Additional District and Sessions judge S K Aggarwal on Tuesday,11-year-old Osean Sandhu,a key witness in the Anuradha murder case in which her father Baljinder Singh Sandhu is the prime accused,stated that her earlier statements were made under pressure from the police. Osean added that she was in a state of shock after her mothers death.

Last month,Osean had turned hostile in the court retracting from her statements recorded before the magistrate soon after the murder. She denied that her parents shared a strained relationship and that Baljinder had attempted to shoot Anuradha after a scuffle three years ago. The girl declined that she had told the police that Anuradha wanted to accompany Baljinder to a discotheque on the night of the murder. Osean said that she was under no pressure from her fathers family to change her statements.

Today,Osean said Sub-Inspector Amanjot Singh had put pressure on her to speak against her father. A day before my statement was to be recorded before the magistrate,S-I Amanjot took me to the Sector-24 police post in his car and detained me for half an hour. Then,he dropped me back home, said Osean. She added that no relative was allowed to accompany her.

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Main tab bahut ghabrai hui thi (I was in a frightened state of mind) and did not read the statements before signing, said Osean. The girl further said S-I Amanjot asked her to keep mum in court and go along with his version of events.

Accused in police custody

Baljinder Singh Sandhu alias Talla,prime accused in the murder of his wife Anuradha,has been remanded in the police custody. Earlier,Sandhu was in judicial custody. Police said Sandhu had been taken into custody to question him about the murder weapon. The gun is still missing and only Baljinder can tell us where he has hidden the weapon, said a police officer. Harish Kumar,brother of Anuradha,had alleged in his complaint that Sandhu had shot his sister at his flat in Sector 39. The police had also recovered a .9mm bullet from a door frame in the house. A separate FIR,under the Arms Act,was registered in the case.

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