Business Standard: Mumbai:
Thursday, May 09, 2013.
In a move
that may leave police and the Maharashtra government red-faced, an accused in
the July 2006 Mumbai train blasts case has come up with information through RTI
to show that some prosecution witnesses were lying, and some of them were
facing criminal cases themselves.
Accused
Ethesham Siddiqui, during his examination by the defence lawyers, told the
special MCOCA court yesterday here that he learnt through Right to Information
Act that one of the prosecution witnesses was facing three criminal cases.
Another
witness had said that he had not conducted any test identification parade after
the parade was held in this case. However, RTI revealed that the witness had
conducted another test identification parade, Siddiqui said.
One of the
witnesses was frequently produced as a panch witness by Crime Branch, CID, etc,
indicating that he was "a professional witness", Siddiqui said.
Another RTI
response revealed that a witness had lied in the records. The register of
high-security 'anda' cell at a Mumbai prison showed there was a mention by this
witness, a police officer, that Siddiqui was taken out for identification
parade on November 7 and 8, 2006, at about 1.15 or 1.30 pm for 35 minutes.
However,
police station diary showed that Ethesham was taken out at 12.35 pm and
returned at 12.40 pm. This entry had been made in Siddiqui's presence, he said.
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