Prosecution witness against Salem and others turns hostile

Mumbai, Jul 9 (UNI) In a setback to the CBI, a prosecution witness in the separate 1993 Bomb blast trial today turned hostile during his deposition before the TADA court and could not give any evidence against extradited don Abu Salem and others for their involvement in the case.

The witness is a cloth merchant from Gujarat and the first among the ten witnesses, who had earlier deposed before the court, to turn hostile.

Deposing before TADA judge D U Mulla, the witness denied having knowledge about the involvement of Salem, Dubai-deported accused Mustafa Dossa and other accused in the serial bomb blasts.

During his examination by chief public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, the witness replied in the negative to most of the questions asked and said he had forgotten what statement he gave before the CBI official.

Following his inability to prove the prosecution case, CBI sought court permission to declare him hostile, which was granted.

It may be recalled that the witness, in his statement before the CBI, had said arms and ammunition were brought and distributed by the accused before the blasts and he was a witness to it.

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