New Delhi: In what can be called as mockery of the art of criminal investigation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after three decades on Tuesday told a city court that Delhi Police did not correctly record the statement of the witnesses in a 1984 Sikh genocide case allegedly involving Congress leader Sajjan Kumar.
Delhi High Court.(File Photo)
It was reported by the media sources that the CBI also claimed that during its investigation, it found that the statements of key prosecution witness Sheela Kaur, recorded by police officials in 1985, were forged. The agency made the statement during the trial of a case in Sultanpuri area of west Delhi in which Sajjan Kumar along with two others are facing prosecution.
The proceedings in the case, which is being video recorded, was held before District Judge Poonam A Bamba.
Senior advocate H S Phoolka, appearing for the victims, reportedly said that the agency made the statement when Sajjan Kumar’s lawyer, during the cross-examination of Ms Kaur, wanted to confront her with her statement recorded by the police under section 161 of CrPC during the investigation of the case in the 1985.
“Our investigation has found that police did not record the statement of the witnesses correctly where it involved Mr Kumar, to help him. The statements were forged by the police itself and not recorded by the witness,” reads the statement of CBI published on the official website of an English daily.
During her cross examination, Sheela Kaur purportedly told the court that she had always named Sajjan Kumar in the case, Mr HS Phoolka said, adding that she reiterated that she had seen and heard the Congress leader instigate a mob in Delhi’s Sultanpuri area in 1984.
Furthermore, the court posted the matter for further proceedings on March 6 when it is likely to resume the recording of the statement of the witness. She had on January 15 told a court here that she received various phone calls threatening that her children would be killed if she named Sajjan Kumar in the case. Sheela Kaur’s husband, brother-in-law and father-in-law were killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, media reports said.
The said case was transferred from Karkardooma court to Patiala House court here by the Delhi High Court, which had directed the district judge to video record the proceedings at the cost of the accused.
Sajjan Kumar and two other accused, Brahmanand Gupta and Ved Prakash, had said that they were ready to bear the expenses of the videography of proceedings. The three accused are facing trial on charges of murder and rioting in the case pertaining to killing of Surjit Singh in Sultanpuri, notes NDTV in its report.