Prof Sabharwal's son seeks time

Nagpur, Apr 17 (UNI) Himanshu Sabharwal, son of Prof H S Sabharwal, who died after an alleged assault in Ujjain in August 2006, has sought a week's time to propose two names for special public prosecutor for the hearing of the case, that resumed before the district court here today.

District Judge B A Sheikh, who is hearing the case, granted Mr Himanshu time till April 25 to propose the names. Mr Himanshu and the Government of Madhya Pradesh (MP) are to propose two names each for special public prosecutor, and one of them will be appointed for the task. The name will be finalised by Principal District and Sessions Judge T V Nalavade on April 25.

Meanwhile, Mr Sheikh allowed all the six accused in the case to return to Ujjain and posted the hearing to April 29.

Four of the accused -Hemant Dube, Pankaj Mishra, Vishal Rajore and Sudhir Yadav -pleaded that they were scheduled to appear for postgraduate examinations in various subjects between April 21 and 25 in Ujjain. Besides, all six of them are also facing charges in two other related cases, being heard in a court of Ujjain.

Counsel for the defence, therefore, moved an application before Mr Sheikh this afternoon seeking permission for the accused to return to Ujjain, which was granted. Earlier, all the six accused, who are in judicial custody, appeared before the court this morning as the hearing resumed.

Prof Sabharwal died after being allegedly assaulted by activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the premises of Madhav College in Ujjain on August 26, 2006. The assault took place after the college authorities cancelled the elections to the students union on the grounds of insufficient quorum.

The case was being heard by a court in Ujjain, but Mr Himanshu moved the Supreme Court with a plea to shift the case to a court outside Madhya Pradesh, saying a fair trial was not possible in that state because it was ruled by the BJP. The apex court ordered the case to be shifted to Nagpur.

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