Deposing before a special CBIcourt here in the IPS officer Narendra Kumar Singh killingcase, three defence witnesses today alleged that the soleaccused Manoj Gurjar was "falsely implicated."
Virendra Singh, Rajveer Singh and Ramesh Singhappeared before the CBI court of Justice Anupam Srivastava asdefence witnesses and were cross-examined by CBI's seniorpublic prosecutor A H Khan and defence lawyer Mahendra Morya.
All three of them told the court that Manoj Gurjar'stractor-trolley overturned on the roadside at Bhagtipur inBanmore at around 7.30 am on March 8, 2012 whereas the allegedkilling occurred in the afternoon that day when the IPSofficer was allegedly "mowed down by another tractor-trolley."
Ramesh Singh, the accused's maternal uncle, also toldthe court that Manoj was illegally detained in the policestation of Banmore when the latter went to report the accidentcase till evening, and was "falsely arrested and implicated inthe case," according to defence lawyer Morya.
During cross examination, Khan asked the defencewitnesses whether they were present at the time when Manoj'stractor-trolley had overturned somewhere else, and whetherthey got any factual evidence in support of their statementswhich they made in the court today, to which "the trio did notrespond."
Later, Khan said the defence witnesses were relativesof the accused, hence they tried to make a story of separateaccident of tractor-trolley without any substantive evidencein the court.
Three more defence witnesses would depose before thecourt tomorrow.
The court has framed charges against Manoj Gurjarunder sections 304 (culpable homicide) and 353 (use ofcriminal force to prevent government official from discharginghis duties) of IPC and section 181 of the Motor Vehicle Act.
Gurjar is accused of mowing down Singh when the lattertried to stop the tractor-trolley, loaded with illegally minedstones, in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh on March 8 lastyear.
Thirty-year-old Singh was posted as sub-divisionalofficer of police (SDOP) at Banmore at the time of theincident.