IN THE Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case, the defence advocate for IPS officer Rajkumar Pandian claimed on Friday there was “fabrication” of evidence against him by the investigating agencies. Senior counsel Mahesh Jethmalani, representing Pandian before the Bombay High Court in the appeal against his discharge by the trial court, referred to witness statements as well as other evidence before the court while making the claim. Jethmalani said while the main evidence against Pandian, according to the CBI, were the statements of two policemen who were allegedly part of the team that abducted Sohrabuddin in November 2005, there were many discrepancies in their statements. “Even before the trial began, before applications for discharge were filed, heard or disposed of, this evidence had come on record that this prima facie story (regarding the abduction of Sohrabuddin and Pandian's role in it) was extracted from the witness by force or threat. What was the need for the CID to record the witness’s statement 400 km away from Gandhinagar, his place of duty. The statement does not satisfy the test set by the Supreme Court of reliability,” Jethmalani said about the witness, whose statement the CBI had relied on as evidence against Pandian. The witness, while deposing before the trial court in December last year, had claimed that in 2005 he was taken to Thaltej society in Ahmedabad and he was kept there for 4-5 days by the CID Gujarat and then forced to make a statement as desired by them. Jethmalani claimed that some of the contents of the witness statements were “copy-pasted” by the CBI without any corroboration or further investigation. He further said that records including his attendance register and Call Data Record showed his presence in Ahmedabad and not Hyderabad. Jethmalani also relied on the statements of two men, who the CBI had claimed, were involved in giving the Qualis car, used subsequently in the abduction. He pointed out that there were many changes in the statements, including the fact about who among the two had allegedly received a call from Pandian requesting the vehicle. Jethmalani also pointed out that one of eyewitness policemen had claimed in one statement that the Qualis was silver and in another that it was light blue. He also claimed that there was “forgery” on the entry register of the CRPF campus in Hyderabad, where an entry by Pandian's name was made but the signature on it was not his. The court will continue to hear the submissions on Saturday. mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com
