Mumbai: A special court has rejected an application made by Mumbai train blast convict Ehtesham Siddiqui seeking that three witnesses who testified against him be investigated for giving false evidence.
Siddiqui was sentenced to death in 2015. His sentence confirmation plea is pending before the Bombay High Court.
The special court, in a detailed order, while rejecting his application, noted that it had passed the judgment appreciating the evidence on record and Siddiqui had filed the plea against the witnesses after seven years of his conviction.
“There is no explanation as to the delay in filing this application,” Special Judge AM Patil said in the order. The court stated that under the circumstances, the plea is “devoid of merit” and thus, needs to be rejected.
Convict claims witnesses gave false evidence
Siddiqui filed the plea under Section 340 of the CrPC (preliminary inquiry on offence of perjury). He claimed that three witnesses had given false evidence, resulting in his sentencing to death. One of the witnesses gave false and concocted testimony, another had given contrary evidence in the case as opposed to that given in another case, he said.
Siddiqui raised doubts on the reliability of an independent witness who was present during a police procedure. His plea said that while the witness had testified that he had not acted as an independent witness in another case, he had done so and hence his testimony is doubtful.
The state told the court while opposing Siddiqui’s plea that the trial in the case had lasted seven years in which the prosecution examined 192 witnesses and the defence 51, but though Siddiqui got ample time to challenge the evidentiary value of the prosecution witness, he was doing it belatedly.
