Prof case: Colleague deposes

Ujjain, MP, Feb 19 (UNI) A district and sessions court today recorded the statements of three persons, including a lady professor, as three consecutive days of second-phase hearings got underway in the case relating to the August 2006 death of Madhav College Prof Harbhajan Singh Sabharwal during violence sparked off by postponement of a students' union poll.

English Prof Chandrakanta Tejwani told Judge A K Sharma that she observed Prof M L Nath's face blackened. At that juncture, it was learnt that Prof Sabharwal was assaulted at gate number 2 of the college.

''By the time other lecturers and me ran to the spot, Prof Sabharwal had been rushed to hospital,'' she said.

In his deposition, the Dewas Gate Police Station's Head Constable Jitendra Singh said that he registered the first information report for murder.

''I conveyed Prof Sabharwal's heart to Bhopal and handed over the organ to Dr Satpati (for analysis). Two days later, I conveyed the organ to Indore,'' said Constable Maharajsingh.

The government had ordered a Crime Investigation Department (CID) probe and named six persons, including the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's then state unit president Shashiranjan Singh Akela, as accused. The CID listed 90 witnesses and 49 would be presented in court. During three days of hearings earlier this month, four of five witnesses turned hostile.

UNI