Monday, June 11, 2012

Found and lost: 3 siblings, and the curious case of DRI’s witnesses

Indian Express: New Delhi: Monday, June 11, 2012.
They are a set of siblings with the unique ability of being at the right time at the right place, seeing and saying the right things at least as far as the Department of Revenue Intelligence goes. Crucial evidence testifying to seizure made by DRI sleuths provided, the siblings show another ability when it comes to appearance in court they “cannot be traced”.
However, “Ashok Kumar”, “Vinod Kumar” and brother “Raju” aren’t the only witnesses in DRI records to have now “disappeared”. A reply to an RTI filed by an advocate shows that in more than half of the cases involving the DRI in the trial stage, two eyewitnesses were shown as present during the time of arrest and seizure but dropped later saying they were untraceable or not living at the given address.
The law requires investigating agencies to have witnesses present who can provide evidence whenever they arrest someone or make seizures. If the eyewitnesses come to court, they can be cross-examined. “When they do not turn up, their statements are taken as part of evidence according to the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act,” says advocate Manish Khanna, who filed the RTI. There are at least 50 DRI cases undergoing trial currently.
According to DRI records accessed by The Indian Express, Ashok Kumar and Vinod Kumar were eyewitness to the arrest of two Africans with 34 kg heroin on March 30, 2009.
However, the DRI case papers themselves state that the arrests were made from the GT Karnal road bypass while the Kumars were standing at a bus stop near IP Bhawan in central Delhi when investigators requested them to become “eyewitnesses”.
While the brothers didn’t turn up in court later, their written testimony on the seizure was admitted as evidence. In their statements, the two claimed they were brothers living in Mandawali.
More than a year and half later, on July 29, 2010, DRI officials arrested a Kenyan national with 10 kg of heroin from a bus stop at Burari in north Delhi.
This time, another “bystander”, Raju, became witness to the seizure after, DRI officials said, they spotted him at the bus stop. The DRI panchnama submitted in court identified Raju as the brother of Ashok Kumar and Vinod Kumar, with a common address: C56 A, Mandawali, east Delhi. Later, Raju too did not turn up in court and the DRI reported him as untraceable. Again, his testimony of the seizure was admitted as evidence.
DRI records claim Ashok, Vinod and Raju are among the seven children of of Ram Kumar, hailing from Jakso village in Samastipur district of Bihar. All three brothers are reportedly cloth sellers.
However, when The Indian Express went to the Mandawali address, it found that it actually housed a temple and a property dealer’s office. None in the neighbourhood could recall any of the three brothers having lived in the area.
Raju’s statement itself contradicts some of the facts in the DRI records. His father’s name is recorded as Raj Kumar, living in Jasko village of Darbhanga, and he claimed to have five brothers, including a Vinod and Ashok.
RTI reply to Khanna showed that in 27 DRI cases under trial, both the witnesses have been dropped while in 11 cases one of the two have been dropped.
“Tomorrow I may be framed with the help of fake witnesses. This is why I filed this RTI application. I have already written to the Delhi High Court about eyewitnesses going missing or being falsely produced,” he said.
While The Indian Express approached DRI Director General R S Sidhu for his comments as well as sent him a detailed questionnaire, he hadn’t responded despite promising to do so till Saturday evening.