BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Monday said that the CCTV footage clearly shows that Mohammed Haris Nalapad was on the spot and he was the first to attack Vidvat at Farzi Cafe in the altercation that happened on February 17. Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar revealed it, before adjourning Nalapad's bail plea to Wednesday to pass orders. "I am bringing it to your notice that the accused was on the spot and he was first to assault Vidvat and it was recorded in CCTV footage which was provided to the court by the investigator. I go by records and pass the orders at 2.30pm on Wednesday," the judge said.
This was after the Senior Counsel C V Nagesh, representing Nalapad, argued that Nalapad was not a party to the assault and that no overt act was attributed to the accused as the FIR stated that there was a quarrel between Nalapad and Vidvat and there were injuries on head, chest and nasal bone were broken but it was not specifically stated anything against Nalapad.
"Even Loganathan (Vidvat's father), in his statement before the sessions court seeking to invoke Section 307 (attempt to murder) against Nalapad and other accused, has also stated that his son was attacked at the instance of Nalapad. In FIR, there was no mention about knuckle rings allegedly used to hit Vidvat. Only jug and bottles were seized and there is no basis that the accused attacked the victim with a knuckle ring. The prosecution is misleading the court to obtain favourable order from the court", he argued.
Nagesh also argued that the discharge summary is genuine and not a fabricated one. It was downloaded after a television channel showed it on March 5. During the investigation, certain documents were collected, including the medical report. Therefore, an application was filed before the sessions court to get certified copies of the case. There is no question of fabricating the discharge summary which can be obtained under Right to Information Act once the same has reached the investigating officer. Hence, there is nothing wrong in sharing the summary on social media, he said.
On the allegations of the prosecution that Haris obtained the discharge summary through a person Nagaraj Reddy who close to Dr Anand, a plastic surgeon who treated Vidvat, Nagesh said that he was baffled and surprised to hear such allegations. "These allegations are uncharitable allegations. I could say, investigating officer Ashwatha Gowda is relative of BJP leader R Ashoka, who met victim's father Loganathan at the Mallya Hospital. A DGP too visited the hospital and he went to the extent of visiting the Cubbon Park Police Station. But we did not say so," he argued.
On Dr Anand mentioning in the discharge summary that there was 'no untoward incident', Nagesh said that it means to say that no such incident occurred during Vidvat's stay in the hospital. For this, the judge replied, let the doctor portray it during the trial and not now. Reiterating that the incident was not preplanned and there was no motive behind it as the accused have not gone to the cafe with any weapons, Nagesh contended that certainly this case is not punishable under Section 307 of IPC.