Published 16:15 IST, December 4th 2020
Malegaon blast: Panch witness claims he doesn't remember facts from blast site
The trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case commenced on a day-to-day basis in a special NIA court in Mumbai from Friday and panch witnesses were cross-examined.
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The trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case commenced on a day-to-day basis in a special NIA court in Mumbai from Friday. Out of the six accused, only two of them namely Sameer Kulkarni and Lt Col Purohit were present in the Court for this hearing. The panch witnesses were being cross-examined by the lawyers of Major Ramesh Upadhyaya and Sameer Kulkarni (who is legally representing himself in the matter), in the hearing taking place in the courtroom of Justice PR Shikre.
Sharing the exchanges that took place inside the courtroom, the lawyers stated that since the entire incident of Malegaon Blast was so long ago in 2008, the witness could not recall the majority of the facts. The lawyers shared that the witness also claimed to have a language barrier since the panch statements were in Marathi and now the witness claimed that he could not understand Marathi.
'Witness has forgotten almost everything'
Sameer Kulkarni, while taking the cross-examination of the witness, claimed that the witness could not remember the number of places that he had signed in the statement, neither, could the witness recall an article of evidence that was apparently wrapped in a green cover. "The witnesses also seemed to have forgotten almost everything. His statements were recorded in July, now during the cross-examination, he didn't recall anything. I took his cross as well and he gave ambiguous answers and skirted questions. The panchnama was in Marathi and now today he claimed that he doesn't understand the language when he was asked about his prior statements," Kulkarni shared with Republic Media Network.
The next hearing will be held on December 7 where other witnesses will also be called for cross-examination. Out of 400, till now 140 witnesses have been called already. On Thursday, the special NIA court had stated that the hearing will be conducted on a daily basis and that the witnesses and the accused will have to be present. On Thursday, the accused including Pragya Thakur, a Member of Parliament from Bhopal had failed to show up stating that she couldn't travel because of Covid-19 norms. Now, all accused including Thakur, col Purohit, Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni will have to be present on December 19, 2020.
16:15 IST, December 4th 2020