Threat to witness: SIMI man says 'it's cooked up'

INDORE: Two days after the court directed the police to provide protection to an independent witness in the SIMI trial, the SIMI operative who allegedly made the threat has filed a rebuttal in court. In his application, Ahmed Baig has said that witness Atul Pathak was unnecessarily trying to seek attention by claiming he was threatened. He said Pathak sought police protection by cooking up a story of a threat made by him.
“Baig has also said that it is impossible for any of the accused to have breached the security ring of policemen and security guards escorting them, especially when the attention of everyone in court is on the accused,” Baig’s counsel Chandan Airen said.
He also claimed that it was illogical and unreasonable to threaten the witness well after his chief examination had finished. “The witness’s vested interests are exposed when he seeks protection from the imprisoned accused, who are lodged in a faraway Ahmedabad central jail in Gujarat,” the application stated.
Apart from submitting a rebuttal, chief examination of two witnesses ended on Thursday. Statements of the then assistant superintendent of police (Dhar), Virendra Singh and independent witness Shyamlal were scripted during the hearing.
Cross examinations of both witnesses, the in-charge of Tirla police station Ajay Kaithwas and independent witness Atul Pathak is pending in the case.
In his testimony, Shyamlal identified all the accused present at court and also gave details about the weapons which were seized from them during the raid at Gafur Khan’s bakery, where the SIMI operatives were arrested.
Virendra Singh recounted the entire police action throughout the operation, right from the initial tip off to the arrest and seizure of arms from the private farm house near Choral.
“On the last day of the series of trials, the cross examination of Ajay Kaithwas, Virendra Singh, and Atul Pathak has been scheduled along with the chief examination of the then CSP Pithampur Sunil Mehta. We have received information that ballistics expert Narendra Singh Choudhary will not appear before the court on Friday,” Airen added.