Court turns down plea for examining one more witness

Mumbai, Nov 28 (UNI) A sessions court here today dismissed an application filed by the prosecution, seeking to examine one more witness in BJP leader Pramod Mahajan's murder trial.

Additional Sessions Judge Shrihari Davare also turned down the prosecution request to send the late BJP leader's mobile phone for a forensic test to find out as to whether it was tampered with or not.

The court turned down the prosecution request to examine Pratap Aashar, then Media Advisor to the late BJP leader, saying that the prosecution was giving undue weightage to an issue-- communication between accused Pravin and the slain leader few days before the assault, which was not directly connected with the actual incident of firing.

While dismissing application for sending the mobile phone for forensic check, the judge noted that issue of the threatening message from Pravin to Pramod Mahajan was disclosed in the examination of BJP leader Gopinath Munde. Thereafter, the prosecution had ample time to get the mobile examined by forensic experts and therefore, the court observed the request at this stage when final arguments are scheduled to start from tomorrow, was uncalled for.

UNI