Forced by police to implicate RR owner: Kundra's biz partner
New Delhi, June 13: Umesh Goenka, the business partner of Rajasthan Royals owner Raj Kundra, on June 12 claimed in a court here that he was forced to name him in cricket betting on instructions from Delhi Police personnel who had "traumatized" and "physically abused" him in illegal custody for five days.
Goenka, whose statement has been recorded as a witness in the case, also said he was forced to name his friend Kundra to save himself from physical torture and from being booked under MCOCA, as threatened by the police.
"Due
to
threats,
torture
and
extreme
fear
of
consequences
on
refusing
to
comply
with
the
dictates
of
the
police,
I
made
the
statement
before
the
magistrate.
It
was
not
made
voluntarily
and
was
given
under
duress
on
directions
of
police,"
he
said.
Goenka made the remarks in an application for retraction of his June 5 statement made before a magistrate in which he had named Kundra in the cricket betting.
Additional Sessions Judge Vinay Kumar Khanna heard brief arguments and directed the Special Cell of Delhi Police to file its response.
"Special Cell to file reply with supporting affidavit of its in charge on or before June 14," he said. Goenka said he was not disclosing the truth after the court pulled up the police for invoking MCOCA while giving bail to accused persons in the IPL spot-fixing case.
In his detailed application filed though his counsel Tarun Goomber, he narrated the alleged torture at the hands of Delhi Police.
Goenka said that "during the investigating the police had abducted him from his house in Ahmedabad on June 2, illegally detained him and put pressure upon him to make a statement under section 164 CrPC as per their narration/instruction."
PTI