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Eyewitnesses in Ujjain murder case turn hostile

Both were provided security after allegedly getting threats

Ujjain: In a major setback to the prosecution, two main eyewitnesses in the murder of Prof H. S. Sabharwal during a college union election turned hostile in a court here on Monday.

Both Komal Singh (peon) and Manohar Dodia (assistant) of Madhav College were declared hostile by district Judge Anil Kumar Sharma following their refusal to identify those arrested by the State CID for allegedly murdering Sabharwal on August 26 last year after the cancellation of the college union polls.

Singh and Dodia told the court that though they had seen some people manhandling the Professor, they were unable to identify them.

Singh said that he had rushed towards Sabharwal soon after some people started manhandling him. Since the Professor fell down, he could not identify any one as he was totally involved in lifting and helping him.

Dodia said that he reached the spot on hearing the call from Singh to lift Sabharwal but added that he had not seen any one assaulting the Professor.

Prosecution advocate, Vikram Singh Sikrwar and Vijay Kadel later told reporters that the court has declared the two key eyewitnesses in the case hostile as they are unable to identify any one.

After the death of Sabharwal it was Singh only who had claimed that he had seen people beating the Professor and when media persons especially asked whether Akela and Tomar were among them he did not deny they were not present.

After the death of Sabharwal, Singh and Dodia were provided security by the police as they claimed that they were being threatened by some persons to keep quiet.

Besides Akela and Tomar, the State CID has arrested six persons, including Vishal Rajoria, Sudhir Yadav, Hemant Dube and Pankaj Mishra on the basis of leads provided by several witnesses including Singh and Dodia.

While police after the statement of Singh whisked him away from the court, Dodia told reporters after the hearing that he has told the court what he had saw on that day.

The State CID has recorded the statement of 94 witnesses in the case and among them two turned hostile.

The hearing in the case will continue tomorrow and also on February 7 when the court will take into account the versions of several other witnesses recorded by the CID. -- PTI

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