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Apple exec murder case: Defence to start recording statements from Jan 30

By, Lucknow
Jan 22, 2025 06:20 AM IST

All eight witnesses of the prosecution have recorded their statements. The examination of the prime accused Prashant Chaudhary is also over.

In the last phase of the Apple executive Vivek Tiwari murder case trial, three defence witnesses will begin recording their statements in the trial court from January 30, the next date of hearing in the case.

Gavel and law books (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Gavel and law books (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

As the examination of prime accused Prashant Chaudhary and eight prosecution witnesses is over, the trial has reached its final phase and is likely to be completed soon.

The trial is going on in the court of additional district judge (1) Narendra Kumar.

“All eight witnesses of the prosecution have recorded their statements. Examination of the prime accused Prashant Chaudhary is also over. Now, only three defence witnesses have to record their statements,” said advocate Manoj Tripathi, the district government counsel.

“We are trying to complete the trial and ensure justice to Vivek’s family—his wife Kalpana and two daughters aged 18 and 13,” added Tripathi.

The prosecution’s first witness Sana Siddiqui recorded her statement in court on April 4, 2019.

She was with Tiwari in the SUV when constable Prashant Chaudhary allegedly shot him dead at around 1.30am in the state capital on September 30, 2018.

The second witness was Kalpana Tiwari, Vivek’s wife, who is now working as a public relations officer with Lucknow Municipal Corporation. Head constable Rajesh Kumar was the third witness.

Dr Jitendra Kumar Srivstava and Dr Ram Prakash Dwivedi, who carried out the post- mortem examination of Vivek and the medical examination of Sana Siddiqui, respectively, have recorded their statements in court.

The then city magistrate, Salil K Patel, and sub-inspector Kushal Kumar Tiwari are among the other two witnesses who have appeared before the court.

The last witness to testify was inspector Vikas Pandey, who was the investigating officer of the case. Pandey has since been promoted as an assistant commissioner of police.

The prosecution had to toil to ensure Pandey’s testimony in the case. After much delay, Pandey finally appeared before the court when the judge ordered a salary freeze and even issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him for failing to appear. His first appearance in court was on February 2, 2024. The last and 14th appearance was on October 19, 2024.

THE CASE

Apple executive Vivek Tiwari, who was a resident of New Hyderabad Colony, was driving his former colleague Sana to her house in his SUV after a late-night office meeting.

Motorcycle-borne constables Prashant Chaudhary and Sandeep Kumar signalled them to stop near Makdoompur police outpost in Gomti Nagar Extension at around 1.30am on September 30, 2018. When Sana rolled down the car’s window to enquire, Sandeep allegedly hit her with a baton.

Sensing trouble, Vivek did not stop the vehicle and kept driving.

In the meanwhile, Prashant allegedly took out his service pistol and shot Vivek. The bullet hit Vivek and the vehicle collided with a divider. After the incident, the police officials fled from the spot.

Sana called cops on emergency number 100 (now 112). Vivek was rushed to the Lohia Hospital where he died during treatment.

An FIR was lodged against the police personnel the next day and the charge-sheet was filed on March 23, 2019. Prashant Chaudhary is lodged in Lucknow prison while Sandeep is out on bail

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