MUMBAI, April 15: The ongoing encounter probe today took yet another turn when Baldev Singh, one of the four key witnesses, said that he had been pressured by Sada Pawle's brother, Anand, to withdraw his first affidavit wherein Baldev had said that he had seen gangsters Sada Pawle and Vijay Tandel being killed by police in cold blood.Baldev, who had withdrawn his first affidavit to subsequently say that he had not seen any encounter as he had been on duty, changed his affidavit for the third time on Monday to say that he had been a witness to the police killing of Sada pawle and Vijay Tandel. Explaining his innumerable turn-arounds, Singh said in court today that he was pressured by Anand Pawle. So much so that just this morning, Baldev claimed, Anand had tried once again to dissuade him from deposing against the police.The other three witnesses - Anand, his wife Anita and sister Hausabai - have withdrawn their affidavits filed on March 2 which said they were present in the car when Sada Pawle andTandel were pulled out and shot dead by police.While on Monday Baldev gave a graphic description of the `encounter', today he identified Assistant Inspector Vijay Salaskar as the man who shot Sada Pawle from a close range.Baldev said Anand had asked him to retract his first affidavit saying that he (Anand) was being pressured by the police. He said Anand showed him the chargesheet filed against him and said police could file false cases against him (Baldev) also.Baldev also spoke of threats from the Chhota Rajan gang and added that it was one of the reason why he filed his first affidavit a day after the others did. He said his father had received a threatening call on March 2, the day Anand, Anita and Hausabai filed their affidavits, and he had to rush back home. He filed the affidavit the next day.The police too, he added, were constantly after him. A few days before he filed his affidavit, Baldev said, PSI Hemant Desai had told him that he would be bumped off through rival gangs (rivals of ArunGawli gang to whom Sada Pawle belonged) if he appeared as a witness against the police. PSI Desai had also threatened him that he would be implicated in a false case.While Baldev had referred to the two persons killed in the encounter as Bhaskar and Ajay in his affidavit saying that that's how they were introduced to him by Anand a few hours before their killing, today he said he later learnt that Ajay was actually Sada Pawle and Bhaskar was Vijay Tandel.He said though he does not know the name of the police officer who shot Vijay Tandel, he would be able to identify him.During cross-examination by the Mumbai police counsel, Harshad Ponda, Baldev said that he had signed the muster on August 26 and 27 (the encounter took place on August 26) because PSI Desai pressurised him to do so. He said the muster roll was kept in the office of the Divisional Chief Ticket Inspector at Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus and DCTI Omkar Singh was in-charge of the muster roll.
