Bootlegging-murder: Witness backs out

Dubai : In what could be a major setback for the prosecution, a prime witness in the trial of the 17 Indians sentenced to death in a bootlegging-murder of a Pakistani in Sharjah has testified that he cannot recognise any of them.

"I don't recognise them," said witness Mushtaq Ahmad while being examined at the fifth hearing of the case at the Sharjah Appeals Court on September 29.

Ahmad, who was one of the four witnesses to the alleged murder of Pakistani Mizri Khan in a bootlegging dispute near a Sharjah labour camp in 2009, said he could not identify any of the accused.

Radio 2: Prime witness in the case of 17 Indian men on death row fails to identify attackers

 

Audio supplied by 99.3 106 Radio 2

The other three witnesses, also from Pakistan, are in their home country with chances of their returning to the UAE being ruled out. Ahmad said he had no idea who beat up or killed Khan.

According to him, a group of 30-35 Punjabi-speaking men were targeting a bootlegger by the name of Raju when Khan and the four witnesses were attacked as they were believed to be supporting Raju, who is also no longer in the country.

Print error

In the last hearing, all the 17 Indians, who are being represented by defence lawyers Mohammad Salman Advocates and Legal Consultants, pleaded not guilty to murdering Khan, maintaining that they were never questioned by the prosecution or the lower court which had awarded them the death sentence. They said they had been charged and convicted on the basis of the police case diary.

In another development, a forensic expert said there was a print error in the case file with regard to the date of the forensic test. He said Khan's death was caused by three cuts in the head and the tools employed in the alleged killing were hard objects with sharp edges. Khan had suffered injuries in his head and right foot, he added.

Among others, the hearing was attended by the parents of Taranjit Singh, one of the accused who is from Haryana in north India. They had been specially flown in by city hotelier S.P. Singh who had arranged for their passports, visas, tickets and stay at the Dubai Grand Hotel, which he owns.

Singh, who has been reaching out to families of all the accused, has so far enabled 11 of the accused to meet their families. He said he planned to fly down the families of the remaining six as well.

Taranjit's mother Sukhvinder Kaur, who could barely hold her tears in the courtroom, said, "My son could never have done anything like this [alleged murder]."

She said she had met her son in prison. "He is in good health and is eating well," she added. The next hearing is on October 13.