Add versions of 5 dead witnesses in trial against Tara: CBI in plea

Chandigarh: The CBI has moved an application in the trial against Jagtar Singh Tara (43) in the 1995 assassination case of the then Punjab CM, Beant Singh, praying to the court of additional sessions judge JS Sidhu to consider the pre-recorded statements of five witnesses who have died.
Citing provisions of Section 299 of the CrPC, the CBI has said though the five persons had passed away, their statements were important and should be taken on record.
The five witnesses are: C M Patel, Inspector Vijay Kumar, DSP A G L Kaul, DSP CBI R S Dhankar and DSP S N Saxena. The statements of these witnesses were recorded when Tara was on the run, after escaping from Burail jail in 2004.
The CBI application said the statements of the five men were part of the original case file, so photocopies of these should be included in the file of the present case as well. The next hearing is on October 23, when the defence will file its reply to the application.
Tara along with accomplices in the assassination case, Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora, had fled the Burail jail while the trial of the main case was on. Beant Singh was killed in an explosion outside Punjab civil secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. A Punjab Police employee, Dilawar Singh, had acted as a human bomb in the incident. Police took nine accused in custody. Of them, the fate of eight — Hawara, Bheora, Gurmeet Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, Shamsher Singh, Naseeb Singh, Balwant Singh Rajoana and Navjot Singh — has already been decided.
There are 248 witnesses in the case.
BRIEF BOX
Had sought mercy killing
In March this year, Tara had filed a plea in court to seek euthanasia (mercy killing) after alleging apathy on part of jail authorities. He stated in his application that he was unfit due to an “unbearable” back pain.