All 12 witnesses identify men who killed Keenan,Reuben

Senior police officers said all 12 witnesses were called to the prison to identify main accused Jeetendra Rana,Deepak Piswal,Sunil Both and Satish Durgraj. Among those summoned were Keenan’s girlfriend Priyanka Fernandes,Reuben’s brother Benjamin and Shobita Singh,Mahbeesh Shaikh and Avinash Solanki — all part of Keenan and Reuben’s group. Also present for the identification was Yashkumar Chaurasia,the paanwala outside the Amboli Bar and Kitchen,the coconut water vendor from whom the accused had taken the murder weapons and the staff of the restaurant.

Prison officers revealed that 28 men were asked to stand in line and the witnesses were asked to identify the four accused from among them. “All 12 witnesses in the case were called to the jail so that the accused can be identified. The parade was done in the presence of the Executive Magistrate and he will now send us his report. Once the report comes,we will forward it to other authorities as well,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 9) Pratap Dighavkar.

A report will be compiled by the Executive Magistrate,who was present during the identification parade. He will then send it to the police and other authorities for it to be used as evidence in court when the case comes up for trial.

Those who were called to identify the accused said they did so successfully in the presence of prison officials. “The witnesses were told to identify the accused from the persons standing in a line. The clothes of the accused were changed and we had slightly tweaked the look of others as well,” said an officer from the Arthur Road Jail.

Family members of the victims said the identification parade was conducted without any hassles. “Those who went to the jail were able to spot the accused,” said Keenan’s cousin Jason Temasfieldt.

The witnesses are also reported to have identified main accused Rana. Police officers had earlier said they were planning not to make him stand in the identification parade as they felt it would fail to establish much owing to the fact that a city-based tabloid had already published his photograph last week.

Keenan (24) and Reuben (29) were allegedly stabbed to death by four men who harassed their girlfriends in Amboli on October 20.