Court allows prosecution to withdraw plea to make 4 more ex-cops accused

A local court on Wednesday allowed the prosecution in the alleged custodial death of Khwaja Yunus a bomb blast accused to withdraw its earlier application for making four more policemen all retired now as accused in the 2003 caseDismissed Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze and three other former cops are already facing trial in the caseOn December 2 2002 a bomb blast occurred at the Ghatkopar Railway Station in Mumbai killing two personsYunus then 27 a software engineer was named an accused in the blast and arrested from Maharashtras Parbhani district He died allegedly in police custody in 2003Recently appointed special public prosecutor SPP in the case Pradeep Gharat said the issue of prosecuting the new set of accused was pending before the Supreme Court SCAlso Read Assam Madrassa demolished students face uncertain futureIt is therefore submitted that the application of section 319 of the CrPC Code Of Criminal Procedure to make four more policemen accused in the case is not pressed at this stage with a liberty to file a fresh plea depending on the outcome in the matter in the apex court the SPP saidAs per the CrPC section 319 a court can proceed against other persons appearing to be guilty of an offenceFinding merits in the prosecutions arguments additional sessions judge V M Pathade allowed its plea for withdrawal of the applicationFour former Mumbai police officials including Waze are facing trial in the case on charges of murder voluntarily causing grievous hurt to extort confession fabricating evidence and criminal conspiracyIn April 2018 thenSPP Dhiraj Mirajkar had filed a plea in the sessions court seeking summons to be issued against retired police officer Praful Bhosale and three other former cops and make them face trial on murder chargesThe application was filed after a key prosecution witness Mohammed Abdul Mateen had deposed before the court claiming he had seen Bhosale thenassistant police inspector Hemant Desai and two other cops assaulting Yunus in police lockupThe Maharashtra government through a notification in 2018 cancelled advocate Mirajkars appointment as the SPP in the caseDuring his deposition in January 2018 Mateen a coaccused in the blast case who was later acquitted of all charges had told the court that Yunus had been brutally assaulted by four police officials of the Ghatkopar Crime BranchThe prosecution alleged that the software engineer was tortured and this led to his death in police custodyThe Mumbai police team that had arrested Yunus however claimed he escaped after the vehicle in which he was being transported met with an accident in January 2003This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever