Sector 26 restaurant firing: Plea to call witness again junked

A local court has dismissed a plea filed by accused persons in six-year-old firing incident at a restaurant in Sector 26 to summon one of the witnesses of the prosecution Pankaj Jakhar for re-examination.

The firing incident took place in 2018 during the birthday celebrations of BJP leader Sehdev Salaria. The police had registered the FIR on the complaint of Deepak Kundu. The latter had told the police that he, along with his friends Yogeshwar, Pankaj, Jaideep and other companions, had gone to attend the birthday party of Salariya. When the party was going on, the accused came there and started an altercation with Jakhar, during which two of the accused took out pistols and opened fire at Yogesh, Pankaj and Jaideep.

In the application filed before the court the accused, Rinku, Rohit Bhardwaj, Chetan Munjal, Arjun Thakur and Rajesh Kumar, alleged that the Chandigarh Police had forced Jakhar to identify them. The applicants said they came to know from some common friend that the police had forced Jakhar to identify them. He had allegedly identified them under duress and coercion.

They said on February 21, the case was fixed for prosecution evidence. However, police officials without any summon or intimation brought Jakhar in the court for recording his statement.

They said the pressure on the witness was apparent as the same was seen from his body language. They prayed before the court that Jakhar be recalled for re- examination, so, that he could give fresh and truthful account of the events without any pressure or coercion.

Public prosecutor said Jakhar had deposed without any pressure or threat, so there was no necessity for a re- examination of the witness.

After hearing the arguments the court dismissed the application of the accused persons.

The court observed that, “Pankaj Jakhar neither reported to the court at the time of recording his statement that he was under some pressure, nor he made any representation at the later stage. The counsel for the applicants has failed to show what purpose will be served by re-examination of this witness as no request has been received on behalf of Jakhar.”