3 witnesses depose in Sabharwal case

Nagpur, Nov 25 (UNI) Three witnesses deposed before a trial court in the sensational Prof H S Sabharwal murder case here today.

The witnesses, who testified before District Judge II B A Shaikh, hearing the case, were Raja Patel, Jay Kaushal, both television news correspondents, and head constable Narenda Singh Tomar.

During his examination-in-chief by public prosecutor P K Tiwari, head constable Tomar said he had been posted at a police station in Ujjain the day Prof Sabharwal was allegedly murdered.

Mr Tomar told the court that he had prepared the seizure memo for the clothes and other articles belonging to slain Prof Sabharwal, a day after he died.

During cross examination by counsel for the defence Parijat Pande, Mr Tomar said he prepared the seizure memo as per the directions of his superiors. He also did not have any personal information of the articles seized.

Mr Patel told the court that on September 9 last, the police had seized two video cassettes and one CD (compact disc) from the office of the news channel of which he is Ujjain bureau chief. The police seized a computer hard disk from his office on September 12 last, he told the court. Mr Patel said that he did not know what the cassettes, CD or the hard disc contained.

Mr Jai Kaushal told the court that on September 11 last, the police seized a computer hard disk and one video cassette from the office of the channel of which he is Ujjain bureau chief. All the three witnesses were deposing before the court for the first time in the hearing of the case.

Three more witnesses are scheduled to depose before Judge Shaikh tomorrow. These are Rajendra Sabharwal, a relative of the Prof Sabharwal, Inspector Ajit Tiwari and Pratap Singh Bhanu Bhadoriya, an eyewitness. Another relative, Manjeet Singh Sabharwal, is to depose on December 2.

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 Prof Sabharwal's son Himanshu moved the Supreme Court with a plea to shift the case to a court outside Madhya Pradesh, saying a fair trial was not possible in that state because it was ruled by the BJP. The apex court ordered the case to be shifted to Nagpur.

Accordingly, the trial resumed before Judge Shaikh here on April 17 last.

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