Date:09/11/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/11/09/stories/2002110906990100.htm

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Doctor fears for his life

New Delhi Nov. 8. Hari Krishna, an alleged eyewitness who claims that the Ansal Plaza encounter here was ``stage-managed'' by the Delhi police, tonight said he feared threat to his life from police.

``I have been branded anti-national by the police. I fear they (police) will kill me,'' he said, when contacted by PTI. Asked why he was ``hiding'', he claimed that the police had asked him to do so.

Dr. Krishna had stirred up a controversy by claiming that he was present in the basement of the posh South Delhi shopping mall on Sunday, when the two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists were shot dead by police, and that the encounter was ``stage-managed''.

The Delhi police have launched an investigation to ascertain whether Dr. Krishna was actually present on the spot at that time.

``We have to first ascertain whether he was really present at the site when the encounter occurred'' on the eve of Diwali, a top police source said.

He said that everyone present at that moment had mentioned about firing from both sides and that Dr. Krishna had given a totally different version.

The Delhi police have also found that a number of cases had been registered against the doctor as they launched a probe into his background. — PTI