HVK Archives: Munde's revolver was in aide's car during riot
Munde's revolver was in aide's car during riot - The Pioneer
Posted By HVK Editor (hvk@hindunet.org)
Tue, 1 Oct 1996 17:31:31 -0500 (CDT)
Munde's revolver was in aide's car during riot
Sujata Anandan
MUMBAI, September 30: A controversial statement and a potentially
explosive piece of information in a prior testimony, which had gone
unnoticed for nearly three years, are set to pitchfork the Justice
Srikrishna Commission hearings into the centre of what could develop into
a major political storm for the Sena-BJP government.
Defence lawyers appearing before the commission, which is inquiring into
the communal riots in Mumbai which followed the Babri demolition, may,
perhaps as early as tomorrow, petition Justice Srikrishna to issue summons
to State Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath
Munde, to appear before it.
Lawyers will ask Joshi to explain crucial points in the Shiv Sena's
"statement of case" signed by the Chief Minister in his then capacity as
one of the top leaders of the Sena. But it is Munde who faces a tougher
time.
Defence lawyers who have completed the examination of the police and were
going through the records were stunned to discover that on
cross-examination of Mahadeo Baburao Zende, the Senior Police Inspector of
the Nirmal Nagar police station, they had missed a crucial detail in his
affidavit. This relates to a firearm allegedly registered in Munde's name
that were confiscated on the afternoon of January 13, 1993 when an army
column intercepted a car moving around the area during curfew hours.
In his 559-page annexured affidavit, Zende says in Para 74 on Pages 54 and
55, "I state and submit that in the afternoon on 13th January 1993, Army
column had intercepted M/car No MH-01-4409 near Adarsh Apartment, Golibar
Road and had demanded the Curfew Pass from the occupant of the car, Vivek
Maitra, when he produced one revolver and one empty case as the Army
officers demanded search of the car.
"Vivek Maitra reported that the fire arm belonged to Gopinath Munde, MLA
and Oppositon leader. Both Vivek Maitra and the driver of the car Ramesh
Chauhan were prosecuted vide L.A.C. No. 23/93, and charge-sheeted. Shri
Gopinath Munde has also been prosecuted."
Lawyers are zapped as to how they missed this crucial statement.
According to Y H Muchala, representing the Lawyers Legal Aid Forum before
the Commission, the entire group was "so busy establishing the Sena's
role" that the BJP's role "got totally subdued".
After consistent effort by The Indian Express to get through to Munde
for his comments, his office informed late at night that he was
campaigning in Uttar Pradesh and unavailable on telephone. However, this
paper managed to trace Munde up to Faizabad, but failed to get through to
him. Joshi too, on the campaign trail, could not be reached.
Joshi, on the other hand, faces a more technical problem. He will have to
explain contradictions arising from his signed statement, where he had
stated that the party's "hands were tied" and that it had not issued any
"instructions to the rioters," and Sena MP Madhukar Sarpotdar's testimony
during his cross examination that retaliation by a killing for a killing
was "natural and justified" and "party policy." The chief minister was
out of town and unavailable for comment.
They are also considering filing a `quo warranto' writ petition against
Sarpotdar to establish why someone who does not believe in upholding the
law of the land should continue in public office. But since Sarpotdar was
in the dock for possessing arms, then Maitra too could be summoned for a
similar offence. Munde will have to explain how some third person was
found with arms that purportedly belonged to him, these lawyers said.
But the fact of Munde's prosecution by the police, however, presents a
difficulty to lawyers wishing to physically put him on the stand. They
cannot ask Munde any questions now before his prosecution by the police is
through.
With Zende's cross examination already over, there is also no possibility
of covering the defence's slip by re-examining him. "But they will still
have to establish the identity of Maitra and why Munde allegedly trusted
him with his arms and ammunition," claims Muchala.
With most of the policemen already examined by the lawyers and the
recording of evidence getting over, the hearings are set to enter a
crucial phase, with several political heavyweights scheduled to testify.
Among these are former Chief Minister Sudhakarrao Naik, ex-Minister of
State for Home Babanrao Pachpute and then Police Commissioner Shrikant
Bapat.
TELLTALE TESTIMONY
"...in the afternoon on 13th January 1993, Army column had intercepted
M/car No MH-01-4409 near Adarsh Apartment, Golibar Road and had demanded
the Curfew Pass from the occupant of the car, Vivek Maitra, when he
produced one revolver and one empty case as the Army officers demanded
search of the car.
Vivek Maitra reported that the fire arm belonged to Gopinath Munde, MLA
and Oppositon leader. Both Vivek Maitra and the driver of the car Ramesh
Chauhan were prosecuted vide L.A.C. No. 23/93, and charge-sheeted.
Gopinath Munde has also been prosecuted."
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