In a significant development in the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the sessions court conducting the trial can decide whether four more policemen can be named as additional accused. This crucial question has been kept pending for the past four years. The four cops are ACP (retired) “encounter specialist” Praful Bhosale, senior police inspector Rajaram Vhanmane and inspectors Hemant Desai and Ashok Khot.

The four cops were named by Dr Abdul Mateen, the first witness to have testified in the trial. Dr Mateen, who, like Khwaja Yunus, was an accused in the 2002 Ghatkopar Bomb Blast case, testified that he saw the four policemen torture 27-year-old Yunus till he vomited blood and collapsed at Ghatkopar Police station.