The Hindu : New Delhi News : Witness retracts earlier statement in Phoolan Devi murder case

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Wednesday, Dec 05, 2007
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New Delhi

Witness retracts earlier statement in Phoolan Devi murder case

Staff Reporter

Says his earlier statement was what the policemen had given him

NEW DELHI: Kalicharan, the personal assistant to slain MP Phoolan Devi and a key witness in her murder case, on Tuesday retracted his earlier statement made in court in which he had admitted to seeing the faces of the assailants at the time of the incident. Deposing before Additional Sessions Judge V.K. Bansal, Kalicharan said he was not able to see the faces of the assailants as they were muffled at the time of the incident on July 25, 2001. However, when the court reminded him that he had earlier given a statement to the court saying he had seen the faces and that he could face perjury charges, Kalicharan said he had only read out the statement that the police had asked him to.

He told the court that when he came to Delhi for recording his statement, the policemen gave him inputs on what was to be said and also asked him to stay at the Connaught Place police station. The prosecution subsequently questioned him about his statement recorded by the police after the incident. Kalicharan then told the court that he did not remember whether the police had recorded his statement.

Court irked

Irked by the flip-flop, the court told Kalicharan that he would face the consequence if he tried to act smart. The court also observed that the witness was deliberately trying to wriggle out of his earlier statement given before this court.

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