Mumbai,20 Nov 2014 : The prosecution received another big jolt in the Aurangabad arms haul case as its second witness has turned hostile in the court saying his sign on plain papers was taken under duress by the Maharashtra ATS.
During the testimony on Tuesday, the prosecution approver told the Special MCOCA court judge that he knew one of the accused as he was his friend but whatever mentioned in the chargesheet by the ATS was not his statement. The approver, who is a medical representative and a resident of Malegaon, bluntly told the Court that ATS has cooked up his statement to nail the accused as he did not vouch it. After his testimony, the special judge accepted his contention and declared him hostile. Earlier also, the prosecution witness turned hostile and blamed the ATS for making him a witness as did not know any accused.
A day before the hearing of the case was postponed because the prosecution wanted to exam voice sample of the accused by an expert. It has submitted an application to the Special MCOCA court in this regard and the judge accepted the application despite opposition from the defence lawyers. Defence lawyers contested the application arguing that it is a ploy of the prosecution to stretch the court proceedings. Representing on behalf the Jamiat Ulema Hind, defence lawyers said the prosecution has built up the case on false and fabricated evidence and now trying to lengthen the case so as innocent remained behind the bars. It is to be mentioned that ATS has arrested 22 Muslim youths in the arms seizure case of 2006 and most them are now out of bail but after spending seven to eight years of their precious part of life in jail.