JOIN US The testimony of witness Vijay Dheer could have been vital to bring Rathore to justice. The revelation on Tuesday has contested the claim of the apex investigating agency that it did not find any evidence to corroborate that Ruchika’s brother Ashu was tortured by Haryana cops and paraded naked.
The witness claimed that the CBI not only disregarded his true statement but also accused him of deposing against Rathore for false fame. Talking to Deccan Herald on Tuesday afternoon, Vijay said he stood by his statement that Ruchika’s brother Ashu Girhotra was paraded semi-naked (in underwear) in the lanes of Sector 6 where the family stayed.
He said his house was opposite of Girhotra’s residence and he was an eyewitness to the entire (mal) treatment meted out to Ashu. The CBI had filed closure reports in two cases against Rathore before the Ambala court. A day after the reports were filed, Rathore was out on bail after spending nearly six months in jail.
The witness said: “While Ashu was being paraded semi-naked by the policemen, he was handcuffed and was being beaten with sticks”.
Contrary to this statement, the CBI in its closure report said: “The shop keepers of Sector 6 market, Panchkula stated that they neither heard nor saw Ashu being paraded by the police in half naked condition with hand cuffs in December 1993. The neighbours of S C Girhotra, Ruchika’s father, in his lane at Sector 6, Panchkula also denied having seen parading of Ashu on December 25, 1993.”
What has further dented the credibility of the CBI is the witnesses’s claim of harassment by the probe agency. Dheer said “It was my daughter’s wedding a day after I had to depose. The CBI team kept me there for over six hours purposelessly. The investigating officer, instead of giving weight to my eyewitness account, told me that I was deposing before Rathore to get false fame in the case.”
He added that he had even complained against the CBI in this regard to the Union Home Minister. A disappointed S C Girhotra said that the entire investigation by the CBI was an attempt to provide relief to Rathore.