Court finds loopholes in 26/11 probe

The special court on Thursday expressed its displeasure over investigation into last year’s terror attacks after signatures of panch witnesses in the hotel Taj attack case were found on wrappers used to seal articles recovered from Nariman House.

The special court on Thursday expressed its displeasure over investigation into last year’s terror attacks after signatures of panch witnesses in the hotel Taj attack case were found on wrappers used to seal articles recovered from Nariman House.

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The court’s observation came after Sagar Princy, a panch witness in the Nariman House case, said signatures on some of the wrappers “used to seal articles recovered from the Jew community centre” were not his.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the signatures were that of one Avasthi and Lallan Yadav, panch witnesses in the hotel Taj attack case.

The special judge observed that police officers should be more careful while investigating such serious cases. The judge also deduced that the wrappers were swapped because of conducting two panchnamas simultaneously and directed the prosecution to examine the police officer concerned on Friday.

Princy said his address recorded in the panchnama was also wrong. He has been shown as a resident of Ambedkar Nagar slums instead of Anchorage Shelter Home.

Princy, a tourist guide, testified that National Security Guards commandos had handed over several articles recovered from Nariman House, including an AK-47 rifle, two pistols, 259 live cartridges, four mobile phones and a GPS set, to the Colaba police.