Gadoli fake encounter: Mumbai court tells prosecution to give copies of CCTV footage to accused

Mumbai city news: The defence on Tuesday pressed for the compliance of the order passed by the sessions court in April, following which the court has again asked the prosecution and the registrar to give copies of the footage to the accused

Mumbai

Gangster Sandeep Gadoli was shot dead in an alleged fake encounter by the Haryana police in Mumbai on February 6, 2016 (HT file)

The sessions court on Tuesday asked the prosecution and the registrar to give copies of the CCTV footages in a CD or in a pen drive to the accused booked in the alleged fake encounter of gangster Sandeep Gadoli at a Mumbai hotel last year.

The six accused — four Haryana police officers, Gadoli’s alleged girlfriend Divya Pahuja and her mother Sonia — had sought copies of the CCTV footage taken from the hotel where the alleged encounter had occurred. The accused claimed instead of attaching the footage, the police only added a transcript of the footage with the charge sheet.

Read:Accused cops want copy of CCTV footage of the incident

The prosecution had objected to the plea alleging that the defence may try to manipulate the footage and the accused might changes the content. After hearing both sides, it was decided that the CD containing the CCTV footage from the hotel would be played before the registrar and compared with the transcripts provided by the prosecution. The CD would be handed over to the accused only after it matched the transcripts. However, the needful is yet to be done.

The case

Gadoli was allegedly killed by the Gurgaon police in a fake encounter at Andheri Metro Hotel on February 7, 2016.

A team set up by the Mumbai police, which investigated the case, relied heavily on the footage recorded by the CCTV cameras installed in the hotel.

In one of the recordings, Haryana policemen can be seen telling the hotel staff that they were from Delhi.

The accused asked the staff about the hotel’s occupants and demanded to see their identity cards. As per one of the footages, after entering the hotel, an officer fired six rounds at Gadoli in nine seconds, the sound of gunshots was recorded by a CCTV camera.

The recording also shows constable Vikram Singh placing a gun near Gadoli’s body.