A high drama was witnessed in the trial court hearing the Varnika Kundu stalking case when the defence lawyer alleged intervention by political and IAS lobby in filing a false case against Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party chief’s son Vikas Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar.
The accusation was made during the cross-examination of Varnika’s father — VS Kundu, a Haryana-cadre IAS officer — in the court of judicial magistrate first class Barjinder Pal Singh.
Defence counsel Rabindra Pandit had made similar accusations during Varnika’s cross-examination too.
In response to a question regarding the presence of advocate RC Tackoria at the police station when the complaint was filed in the wee hours of August 5 last year, Kundu responded in the affirmative. However, he claimed that he called Tackoria, a relative, only after a “BJP spokesperson” called him at 4am. The magistrate stopped him from completing his sentence and said such things shouldn’t be said as “they could be of help to the accused persons”.
Kundu talked to Hooda, Chautala
The mention of big political names — such as former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and leader of opposition Abhay Chautala — by Pandit also heated up the atmosphere in the courtroom. Kundu agreed he received a call from Chautala on August 6 or 7, though he could not recall when Hooda had called him even as he admitted they had a talk.
UT home secy, DC’s names also come up
Varnika’s father also claimed that he spoke to UT home secretary Anurag Agarwal and deputy commissioner Ajit Balaji Joshi after the incident. However, he clarified that he had called Agarwal on August 6, but he didn’t answer his call. Later, when the officer called him back, Kundu said he asked the home secretary to preserve the CCTV footage on the route on which Varnika was allegedly stalked.
Pandit also mentioned the names of other serving or retired IAS officers — Giriraj Agarwal, Urvashi Gulati, Virender Dahiya, Keshani Anand and Sanjeev Kaushik — and asked Kundu if he spoke to them after the incident.
{{/usCountry}}Pandit also mentioned the names of other serving or retired IAS officers — Giriraj Agarwal, Urvashi Gulati, Virender Dahiya, Keshani Anand and Sanjeev Kaushik — and asked Kundu if he spoke to them after the incident.
{{/usCountry}}Kundu replied in the positive, adding that he spoke to only some of them after they called him up to enquire about the incident. He clarified that some of them were his batchmates.
Barala’s lawyer suggested that a strong IAS lobby had mounted pressure on cops to file a false case and add sections that were non-bailable. He also mentioned how a special public prosecutor — district attorney — was asked to handle the case in the lower court on Agarwal’s plea, for which there was no provision. The prosecution’s counsel, Manu Kakkar, strongly objected to it.
Earlier, Kundu reiterated most of the points made in the FIR, while recording statement.