Majid Memon named special PP in Sabharwal case

Nagpur, Apr 25 (UNI) Noted lawyer Majid Memon has been named the special public prosecutor (PP) in the high-profile Prof H S Sabharwal murder case.

Principal District and Sessions Judge T V Nalavade finalised Mr Memon's name here today. The judge named Mr Memon among two names each proposed by Himanshu Sabharwal, son of Prof Sabharwal, and the Government of Madhya Pradesh (MP). The Government of MP had proposed the names of District Government Pleader P K Sathianathan and Assistant Public Prosecutor Vasant Narsapurkar, while Mr Himanshu had proposed the names of noted lawyers Ujjwal Nikam and Mr Memon.

The case is being heard before a sessions court here, after it was transferred from Ujjain to Nagpur on the directives of the Supreme Court (SC). When the hearing resumed before District Judge II B A Shaikh on April 17, Mr Himanshu had sought a weeks time to propose the names for special public prosecutor, and was granted till today to do so.

At the time, Mr Shaikh had also allowed all the six accused in the case to return to Ujjain and posted the hearing to April 29.

The six accused - Hemant Dube, Pankaj Mishra, Vishal Rajore, Sudhir Yadav, Shashiranjan Akela and Vinod Tomar - are all facing charges in two other related cases being heard in a court in Ujjain.

Besides, Dube, Mishra, Rajore and Yadav are appearing for post-graduate examinations in various subjects there.

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 apex court with a plea to a shift the case to a court outside MP, saying a fair trial was not possible in that state because it was ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The apex court had then ordered the case to be shifted to Nagpur.

UNI AB SR RSA AS1352