The Hindu : New Delhi News : Rathi moves High Court in shooting case

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Sunday, Oct 28, 2007
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New Delhi

Rathi moves High Court in shooting case

Staff Reporter

Argues that trial court judge failed to appreciate evidence given by 11 prosecution witnesses

Says forensic reports failed to prove judge’s deduction on a pistol being planted in vehicle
Urges Court to suspend sentence; grant bail till his appeal against conviction was set aside

NEW DELHI: Dismissed Assistant Commissioner of Police S.S. Rathi on Saturday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the trial court judgment of October 24 sentencing him to life imprisonment in the Connaught place shooting case.

The former police officer submitted that he had not fired at the vehicle in which businessman Pradeep Goel and his associate Jagjit Singh were travelling near Statesman House in Connaught Place on March 31, 1997.

“Well away from scene”

Rathi said he was well away from the scene of crime when the vehicle was fired at resulting in the death of Pradeep Goel and Jagjit Singh and injury to Tarunpreet Singh, another passenger in the car.

He further submitted that the trial court judge had failed to appreciate evidence on record given by 11 of the prosecution witnesses who testified to a break in the driving side widow screen of the vehicle which indicated that shots were fired from inside it at the cops.

Referring to the deduction by the trial court judge that the accused cops had planted a pistol in the vehicle to prove that shots were fired at the cops from inside it, Rathi submitted that the forensic test had failed to match the fingerprints lifted from the weapon.

The trail court, therefore, had erred in coming to the conclusion, Rathi submitted.

Besides, the Central Bureau of Investigation that investigated the case had recovered empties of cartridges from inside the car, he contended.

He argued that since he had been entrusted with the task of nabbing gangster Mohammed Yasin, there was no pre-planning to shoot him.

It might be recalled that it was an admitted case of the city police at the time that the encounter team of the Crime Branch had shot dead the innocent businessmen mistaking one of them as Yasin.

Rathi urged the High Court to suspend his sentence and grant bail till his appeal against the conviction was set aside.

Besides Rathi, the trial court had sentenced nine other dismissed personnel of the Delhi police to life imprisonment. The High Court is likely to take up Rathi’s appeal for hearing on Monday.

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