The owner of Suleman Usman bakery, where a police firing incident took place during the 1992-93 riots, was declared hostile after he told a sessions court on Tuesday that he does not remember anything due to the passage of time.
Suleman Mithaiwala, now 75 years old, was brought in a wheelchair to testify before the court.
On January 9, 1993, policemen fired on unarmed Muslims inside the bakery, resulting in the death of eight, while injuring 12 others.
The then joint commissioner of police Ramdeo Tyagi, who died of cancer in 2020, was once an accused in the case, but was discharged along with eight others. It was alleged that the firing had happened on his orders.
The defence’s claim is that there was firing from the bakery on the police, following which the police had opened fire to contain the situation. Only seven policemen of the 17 accused now face trial.
In his earlier statement, Mithaiwala had told the police about receiving a phone call regarding the firing incident. He was not present at the spot at the time, and told the court on Tuesday that was at home due to the curfew. He said it was only three days after the incident that he had collected the bodies of his workers from JJ Hospital.
The owner of the establishment is the 11th prosecution witness to testify in the case. The trial began with much delay in February 2019, 26 years after the incident.
