Varanasi blast case: witnesses turn hostile

The case is related to the blast at Cantonment railway station in Varanasi that occurred on March 7,2006.

Defence lawyer Iliyas Chaudhary said,“The police had referred to Vikram Sharma’s statement in the charge-sheet stating he had seen a person offering prayer (namaz) at a platform at the station a few minutes before the blast was set off. The investigating officer (IO) had mentioned that Sharma had identified Waliullah as the same person whom he had seen before the blast when the police arrested the accused,” Chaudhary said.

But,on June 25,while being produced before the court,Sharma denied having seen Waliullah.

Similarly,Pandey too denied having seen anybody before the blast that day,the lawyer said.

The IO in the case,Varanasi GRP Circle Officer AK Rai,said,“The two witnesses produced on Thursday have turned hostile while one more has denied having seen Waliullah during a hearing in the court earlier.”

“But,we have concrete evidence to prove Waliullah’s involvement in the blast,” Rai claimed.

Chaudhary said four more witnesses are to appear in the case in the next hearing due on July 15. These witnesses are policemen,including the investigating officer himself,and the head constable who lodged the FIR.

Earlier,he said,the police had produced 21 other witnesses,20 of whom were the victims who had survived the blast. One of them was referred as an eyewitness claiming he had seen Waliullah,but he too backtracked.

Meanwhile,according to Chaudhary,a hearing in Sankatmochan temple blast case was scheduled in Ghaziabad court on Monday. The police had to produce seven witnesses in this case,but none appeared today,he said.

The Varanasi police had arrested Waliullah in Gosainganj area of Lucknow on April 5,2006. The trial in the cases related to three blasts at Sankatmochan temple,Cantonment railway station and Godaulia were transferred from Varanasi to a Ghaziabad court after a group of lawyers attacked Waliullah on the court premises on May 3,2006.