Khwaja Yunus ‘custodial’ death: Retired cop opposes mother’s plea in Bombay HC

The trial court had also allowed the plea by Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Pradeep Gharat seeking the withdrawal of an application filed by the prosecution to add the four as accused.

A single judge bench of Justice R G Avachat was hearing Asiya’s revision plea filed through advocate Chetan Mali, which claimed the sessions judge failed to appreciate that the state government had moved the application for including the four policemen as accused based on witness evidence available with it and the judge committed “gross injustice” and “error” by passing the impugned order of September 7, 2022.

Currently, four policemen are facing trial for the alleged custodial death of Yunus. In 2018, the then SPP Dhiraj Mirajkar filed a plea seeking the inclusion of four more policemen as accused after the deposition of the first witness.

The four were retired ACP Praful Bhosale, senior police inspectors Rajaram Vhanmane and Desai, and serving policeman Ashok Khot. The witness had named the four claiming that they had assaulted Yunus. Mirajkar was then sacked by the state government for moving the application and the court kept the application to add them in abeyance.

Desai, in his affidavit filed through advocate Subhash Jha, said, “The applicant (Asiya) has been trying very hard for several years to entangle me as well as the respondents Bhosale and Vhanmane in connection with the death of her son.”

The HC will hear the plea next on February 8.