NEW DELHI: The prosecution of 19 Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel for the alleged murder of 42 Muslims in Hashimpura during the 1987 Meerut communal riots received a boost when the first witness and one of the four survivors deposed before a court here on Saturday.

Zulfikar Nasser told additional sessions judge N. P. Kaushik in the Tees Hazari that he was one of the group of 40-45 persons rounded up by the PAC and taken to the outskirts of Murad Nagar. He saw two persons being shot and thrown into the canal. "I was the third in line. I was pulled out of the truck and as I fell down, I was shot," he said. The bullet hit him in the underarm. He feigned death by holding his breath.

The PAC personnel, thinking that he was dead, threw him into the canal, said Nasser. He escaped, concealing himself in bushes. He heard cries for help and sounds of bullet shots. "I could hear thuds after the bodies of 15 or 16 persons were thrown into water."

Bharti Singh, sector officer Crime Branch-Central Investigation Department, Meerut, told the judge that she would look into why the case property comprising rifles used by the PAC personnel was redistributed.

3 of the accused dead

Charge sheets were filed against the 19 accused before the Ghaziabad chief judicial magistrate. They did not appear in court though bailable warrants were issued 23 times between 1994 and 2000. Under public pressure, 16 of the accused surrendered before the Ghaziabad court and were subsequently released on bail.

In September 2002, on the orders of the Supreme Court, the case was transferredhere. Three of the 19 in the original list of accused including platoon commander Surender Pal Singh, under whose instructions the massacre was allegedly committed, are already dead.

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