The Hindu : Front Page : Charges framed against accused in Bitta case

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Sunday, Sep 24, 2006
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Charges framed against accused in Bitta case

Staff Reporter

Judge fixes December 7, 14 as the dates for commencing trial

M.S. Bitta

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday framed charges under the defunct Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against an accused in the car bomb explosion case near the Indian Youth Congress headquarters on Raisina Road here in the Capital in September 1993 in which 12 persons were killed and 29 injured, including the then Youth Congress president Maninderjeet Singh Bitta.

Framing the charges under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of TADA and various Sections of IPC, Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur said there was sufficient evidence on record to send up the accused, Harnek Singh, on trial.

Ms. Kaur fixed December 7 and 14 as the dates for commencing trial in the case.

However, the court discharged Baldev Singh, another accused in the case, for want of evidence.

The police had arrested Harnek Singh in Ludhiana in 2004 and later on his disclosure statement, Baldev Singh was arrested.

The trial court had sentenced Devender Pal Singh, the prime accused in the case, to death saying that ``the act committed by him and his accomplices was extremely cruel and beastly''.

Acquitted

However, the court had acquitted Devender Pal Singh's co-accused Daya Singh Lahoria saying the police had failed to corroborate his confessional statement during the trial.

The Parliament Street police case was that the terrorists used the timer device to explode deadly RDX kept in an Ambassador car belonging to Charan Singh, a Government employee who had sold it long ago.

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