Bhujbal deposes in POTA Court as defence witness

Mumbai, Aug 22: Public Works Department (PWD) minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Friday, Aug 22 deposed before a POTA court as a witness for the defence in the twin blasts (August 25, 2003) case in which 50 people were killed and several injured.

Deposing before Judge M R Puranik about a joint press conference he held with the Commissioner of Police, Mr Bhujbal denied certain portions of remarks attributed to the Police commissioner in the published reports. ''I do not feel that police commissioner might have stated so, whatsoever was published in section of media,'' he said, adding that the Home Department normally clarified if there was any serious wrong reporting by the media and ''if it was not so important we used to ignore it.'' The minister also said if any major thing happened in the city or state, the commissioner of police/superintendent of police called him up or his secretary to brief on the happening.

If things are not so serious the authority send it by official procedure in writing to home department.

The twin blasts had occurred on August 25, 2003 at Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar areas of the city.

UNI