Minutes after the accused in the Sector-37 property grab case entered the courtroom on Wednesday, the first prosecution witness started sweating and trembling, as his blood pressure shot up, prompting the court to defer his chief examination.
When the trial had begun on Tuesday, the witness, Amit Gupta, a chemist, had verbally urged the judge to provide him security, as he felt threatened and had previously been tortured by some of the accused.
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The 11 accused are facing trial for illegally confining Rahul Mehta, 48, the sole surviving heir of his family, in his 338 square yards house in April 2017, before forcibly transferring the general power of attorney (GPA) to their names and abandoning him at a stud farm in Gujarat.
The accused include journalist Sanjeev Mahajan; realtor Manish Gupta and his brother Saurab Gupta; suspended Chandigarh Police inspector Rajdeep Singh; Satpal Dagar, brother of a UT deputy superintendent of police; liquor baron Arvind Singla and businessman Khalendra Singh Kadyan, along with Ashok Arora, Shekhar and Daljit Singh, who purportedly acted as witnesses in the subsequent sale of the house in March 2019.
Gurpreet Singh, who impersonated Rahul as the property owner to execute the sale and since deceased bouncer Surjit are the other accused in the case.
{{/usCountry}}Gurpreet Singh, who impersonated Rahul as the property owner to execute the sale and since deceased bouncer Surjit are the other accused in the case.
{{/usCountry}}‘Accused told me not to treat victim’
On Wednesday, before his examination-in-chief was deferred, Amit, 44, told the court that he had been running a medical store in Sector 37 since 2014.
He said a shopkeeper had brought Rahul Mehta to his shop for wound dressing. Blood was oozing from wounds on his left leg and dressing was required every second day.
“Ten days later Sanjeev Mahajan visited me and asked not to treat him anymore. A few days later, Rahul went missing and four police personnel took me to some police station at night. The SHO and staff interrogated me for three days, until Rahul was traced. I was let off with the stern directions not to meet Rahul thereon,” the chemist said, before he started trembling, began to lose his balance and was offered a chair. In view of his bad health, further examination-in-chief was deferred.
Earlier, in a statement to the police, the chemist had claimed that during interrogation, the police had stripped him and made him lie on an ice slab for several hours.
Another witness Tarun Kumar, alias Tarsem, said the accused, Surjit, Daljit, Shekhar and Sanjeev, were known to him. In 2017, Surjit called him to share that he had illegally occupied a house in Sector 37.
“I, along with Shekhar, visited the house and met Daljit, Sanjeev and four to five bouncers present there. I found Rahul lying intoxicated…Once he managed to flee, Shekhar, Surjit, Sanjeev and I went to Delhi and traced him to a shelter for the homeless,” he stated in the court. Tarun also disclosed that he encashed a cheque for ₹4 lakh and gave the amount to Sanjeev.
The case is now listed for Thursday when the victim, Rahul Mehta, has been asked to record his statement before the court.
Cop suspended for negligence
A Chandigarh Police constable, Pawan, was suspended for negligence in duty, a day after accused Sanjeev was found handing over documents to his wife without the permission of the court on Tuesday. Pawan was deployed on duty to escort Sanjeev to the court.