Purulia armsdrop key accused denied bail

Judge AK Bisi of the city civil and sessions court allowed the CBI prayer for adjournment in respect of production of seized arms and ammunition now in the custody of the central armoury of state police at Barrackpore in North 24-Parganas district, and fixed June 16, 17 and 18 as next dates of evidence of witnesses in the case.

Earlier, CBI counsel S Ghosh submitted that the North 24-Parganas district administration had expressed its inability to provide necessary police force for escorting samples of seized arms and ammunition from the armoury to the court for inspection andidentification purposes, in view of police engagement for pre and post-panchayat poll purposes.

Meanwhile, the court also allowed petitions by accused Latvians for allowing Moskovitina Galina, mother of ailing Latvian accused Igor Mosktivine, and Inne Ova, sister of another accused Igor Timarmann, to meet them personally in jail till their stay in India.

The CBI did not oppose the petitions seeking court permission to two Latvian women, who arrived here recently from Delhi, to meet their respective relatives in presidency jail. The petition mentioned the alleged sorry state of affairs in the jail and the denial of basic amenities as well as medicines to the accused in custody since December 23, 1995.

The judge, while allowing the prosecution to defer production of seized arms and ammunition till mid-June, permitted Latvians8217; plea for proper medical care for accused Alexander Klichine, E Antimenko and asked the jail authorities to ensure their treatment.

Ailing Igor Mosktivine, who was returned to jailafter undergoing treatment at the state-run SSKM Hospital, was not produced in the court today along with six other accused.

Meanwhile, executive chairman of legal aid services, West Bengal, Gitanath Ganguly, told PTI outside court that he had been approached on behalf of the Latvians for taking up ordeal of the accused in Presidency jail with the Human Rights Commission.

Ganguly, who was appointed by Calcutta high court last year to see condition of the accused in the jail, said that the accused Latvians were justified in demanding speedy trial as their fundamental right. quot;Right to obtain speedy trial is certainly a fundamental right which has been curbedquot;, he said.

He said the relatives of the two Latvians alleged they were very much prejudiced about the delay in trial proceedings.