Prof Sabharwal's son to seek reinvestigation into case

Nagpur, Apr 16 (UNI) Himanshu Sabharwal, son of Prof H S Sabharwal, who died after an alleged assault in Ujjain in August 2006, will seek a reinvestigation into the case and production of original videotapes of the incident when the trial resumes at a local court tomorrow.

Speaking to reporters here today, Himanshu said he was seeking a fresh probe because the Madhya Pradesh police had conducted a shoddy investigation into the incident. ''I am not concerned whether the fresh probe is conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or by the MP police, as long as it is brought on record that the original investigation was botched,'' he said.

''I will also move an application seeking the production of the original videotapes of the incident, shot by two police cameramen and six others of local television channels, who were present at the spot,'' Mr Himanshu said. The police had submitted before the court copies of the video recording on compact discs, but neither the original tapes or the negatives of the photographs of the incident, were deposited he alleged.

''The police have not seized the editing machine on which the tapes were copied. Surprisingly, no forensic examination of the video footage was carried out,'' he alleged.

He said he would also seek re-examination of the 51 witnesses latter, who had turned hostile during the trial. A total of 54 witnesses had been cited in the case, of which 51 had been examined, all of whom had turned hostile, he told newspersons, adding he was confident of a free and fair trial of the case in Nagpur.

Prof Sabharwal died after being allegedly assaulted by activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the premises of Madhav College in Ujjain (MP) 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 a shift the case to a court outside Madhya Pradesh, saying a fair trial was not possible in that state. The apex court ordered the case to be shifted to Nagpur.

The trial will resume before the district and sessions court here tomorrow.

UNI AB OBB SBC GC1733