'Glaring loopholes in Adnan murder probe'

MUMBAI: Additional sessions court judge Sanjay A Deshmukh pointed out several glaring loopholes left by both the prosecution as well as the police in the kidnap and murder case of Adnan Patrawala who was killed in 2007 but the accused could not be convicted. Referring to the manner in which the police handled the kidnapping bid, the 125-page judgment said, "It is surprising that there is no evidence to show that the police arranged a trap to catch the accused ransom caller while handing over at least some ransom amount."
On January 30, a sessions court acquitted Sujit Nair, Ayush Bhat, Rajiv Dhariya and Amit Kaushal of the charges of kidnap and murder of the 16-year-old Patrawala.The prosecution claimed that on August 19, 2007, the four and a minor boy strangled Patrawala in Navi Mumbai after their plan to extort Rs 2 crore as ransom from his father went awry with the police getting wind of the kidnapping. His body was found dumped inside his car on Palm Beach Road in Vashi.
Pointing at a glaring error, the court said the prosecution did not examined Patrawala's mother Lubna as a witness though she was the one who received a call made from Adnan's mobile to their home's landline at 1.30pm on August 19, 2007. The investigating officer had not confronted her or Adnan's father Aslam with the accused to identify their voice, the court said. The judge further pointed out that the prosecution should have adduced voice analysis evidence in support of the ransom calls. The court claimed that the seizure procedure of several articles to be produced as evidence was not done according to the procedure. "Tampering of articles is possible," the judgment copy stated.
The prosecution also withheld the pictures of Patrawala's body and the car. "Further, the prosecution did not mention the details of the area where those were recovered. Evidence regarding seizure of the articles is not acceptable," the judge added.
Another blatant mistake on the part of the prosecution, the court said, was that it did not examine the fingerprint expert who could have thrown light on the involvement of the accused. The expert was called to the spot to examine the car to show that the accused had handled the vehicle after killing Adnan.
The judge also rejected the testimony given by the prosecution's star witness, Abdul Wahid, who was examined to prove the theory that Patrawala was last seen in the company of the five accused. Judge Deshmukh said the identification parade involving Wahid was not carried out in accordance with the rules under the Criminal Manual.
Aslam Patrawala told TOI that he was yet to receive the judgment copy. "I will get it either by Sunday or Monday. Once we go through it we will file our appeal in the Bombay High Court and even approach the Mantralaya," he said.