Lawyer blames police for going slow on Salman in accident case

Demanding a high-level probe by the Maharashtra government, IPS officer-turned-lawyer Y P Singh today blamed police for abusing power and violating laws to benefit
Salman Khan in a bid to "delay" the trial in a hit-and-run case, in which the actor is the prime accused.

He demanded the probe against the investigators concerned, holding them responsible for the trial progressing at "a snail's pace" and "abuse of power". Addressing the media, Singh, accompanied by his wife Abha Singh, said, "Many are wondering that in the hit-and-run case involving NRI Nooriya Haveliwala the trial got over in about 2 years and in Alistair Pereira case, it happened in just about one year. But Salman Khan's case is more than 10 years old, yet the end of the trial is nowhere in sight."

Showing documents of court proceedings in Salman's case, Singh said "during the initial stage of the trial, the magistrate's court in Bandra had issued summons to 39 witnesses. But police did not serve summons to 24 of them.

They served summons to 13 witnesses, in which only one person remained present before the court. Two witnesses refused to accept the summons, Singh alleged. Noting that it was the duty of the police to produce the witnesses, Singh alleged that police had failed to produce requisite witnesses even though most of them were known and based in the city.

"When summons were issued by the court again, some witnesses had appeared, but the prosecution had decided not to examine them and dropped them as witnesses, despite the charge sheet stated them as witnesses. There could never have been such a strange coincidence, unless and until there was some manipulation at play," he alleged.

"We always blame the courts for the delay, but actually the litigants are responsible for the delays. Litigants and defendants are in collusion in Salman Khan's case. Mumbai Police is helping Salman Khan evade the law," Singh alleged.

Salman got a major boost when several witnesses became untraceable or summons were not served, even though they all were locals, Singh's wife Abha, who is also a lawyer, alleged.

"Even though the Bombay High court, while granting exemption from personal appearance to Salman Khan in 2005, had given liberty to the trial court to summon the accused when absolutely necessary, the police never filed any application to the court for his personal appearance to expedite the trial despite witnesses turning hostile or remaining untraceable.

"Taking advantage of the High Court order, the actor remained absent for over 82 times from the hearing of the case," she claimed. "But in sensational 2G trial case, every accused had to remain present in every date since the trial has to be expedited.

"It also took two years for the police to present the medical officer, who treated the injured in the incident, before the court," Singh alleged. "Before that, two doctors, who had nothing to do with the case, were present before the court. It was absurd. The public prosecutor had sought more time so that the doctor concerned would be presented before it soon by police. But it took two years (for the doctor to depose)," he said.