The Hindu : Parliament attack case hearing to continue on Monday

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Friday, Apr 04, 2003

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Parliament attack case hearing to continue on Monday

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 3. On the second day of the hearing into the Parliament attack case the prosecution set out in detail the fire-power that the five militants who carried out the attack packed.

Counsel for the State, Gopal Subramanium, placed before the court the recorded statements of the police personnel who were assigned to deal with the evidence at the three main points of the attack — Gates nine, five and one of the Parliament precinct.

He read out details of the recoveries that each made, of arms and ammunition from the site, documents and personal effects from the person of the dead militants. The manner in which they were handled, sealed and deposited at the police store.

The Judge, Usha Mehra, noted that none of the witnesses had said what they had done with their seals. She said the seals should either have been "deposited with an independent witness if one was available or deposited at the malkhana (police store).'' If the seal was given to another police official (as stated in one of the witness statements), it violates the sanctity of sealing and "raises suspicion.'' Mr. Subramanium assured her that he would deal with the issue "later.''

He placed the statement of Upendra Kishore, who conducted the post-mortem examination of the militants. Dr. Kishore said that during this examination on December 17, 2001, he found two slips of paper in the pockets of one of the dead militants. These were handed over to the police.

Ms. Justice Mehra intervened to ask if the slips had been placed in sealed covers. Mr. Subramanium said that they had not been. He suggested that if the seizure memos were reliable then this did not weigh too heavily. He said that "the first lesson of investigation is that if any document is seized it must be sealed. Any investigating officer would do that.''

The hearing will continue on Monday.

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