Gulberg: SIT lawyer sums up testimonies of three witnesses

AHMEDABAD: The final hearing in the 2002 Gulberg society massacre case continued here today as the lawyer of the Supreme Court-appointed SIT, the prosecuting agency in the case, summed up testimonies of three witnesses.

Former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri and 68 others were killed at the Gulberg society on February 28, 2002, in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning incident.

Special public prosecutor R C Kodekar today narrated the depositions of Sayra Sandhi, her husband Salim Sandhi and another witness Ashraf Sikandar Syed, before Judge P B Desai.

Sayra, who lost four family members including her son, had given truthful and credible deposition and there was no reason to discard her testimony, as she had corroborated the versions and the evidence of the relevant incident, Kodekar said before the court.

The witness had identified a large number of the accused and also narrated the specific overt act of them. She pointed out the use of weapons by the accused.

Salim Sandhi had testified that he had seen Ehsan Jafri consulting with then police commissioner P C Pandey along with another police officer K G Erda (accused in the case and suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police). However, a mob had attacked the society after the policemen had gone from there, Kodekar said.

Sandhi also supported the versions of other prime witnesses and identified nearly five accused during the court proceedings, he said.

Another prosecution witness Ashraf Sikandar Syed, who had sustained injuries when the mob attacked the society, also identified four accused persons, Kodekar said. The hearing will continue on December 31.