Prajapati ‘fake’ encounter case: Two more witnesses declared hostile, count rises to 85

The witness said he was never called by Palanpur police to Ambaji General Hospital or asked to observe the physical condition of Pandya. He denied telling Palanpur police that after entering the special room of the hospital, he saw on the first bed an injured Pandya, fully conscious, wearing a vest with short sleeves, a bandage on the left shoulder where a bullet hit him when Tulsiram is said to have fired from his weapon.

According to the statement of the witness before Palanpur police in 2006, Pandya told him that Tulsiram had opened fire on him and, in self-defence, he fired two rounds from his own service revolver. The revolver was handed over by Pandya to Palanpur police at the hospital.

The statement further said a procedure of panchnama was carried out in front of him, in which Pandya’s clothes and revolver were seized, sealed and signed by the witness. His statement further said later he was taken to Palanpur police station, where two Rajasthan police officers were present and their revolver and rifle, used in the encounter, were handed over to Palanpur police and a panchnama made in the witness’s presence.

The witness, however, told the court on Saturday he was never taken to any hospital or police station and no panch procedures were carried out before him, and that he was only asked to sign on a paper. Asked to identify his signatures on the sealed revolvers, rifles and clothes of Pandya, he said there was no signature — only his name was written on it.

The second witness told the court that he lived close to Palanpur police station and 10-12 years ago, he was asked to sign on some documents. He told the court he didn’t remember what was written on the document he signed.

Special Court Judge S J Sharma asked the witness if he usually signed documents without reading them. Judge Sharma also asked him in Hindi whether he would sign documents that may be property papers. The witness replied that he has no property to be worried about.