Chandigarh: Two more witnesses, including
a woman special police officer, on Wednesday turned hostile in the
trial in the 2006 Jammu and Kashmir sex scandal, taking to
four the number of such witnesses.
Counsel for the prosecution and defence told media
outside the court that two witnesses, both females, turned
hostile in the case.
"Two witnesses did not support the prosecution version
in the court," a CBI counsel said.
Both the witnesses told the court that they do not
know the alleged kingpin Sabeena, a defence counsel said.
"The witnesses told the court that they were not
sexually exploited by the alleged accused," he said.
While one of the witness was a Special Police Officer
(SPO) in Jammu and Kashmir, the other witness is a housewife.
Both the witnesses are in their twenties.
The day-long in-camera proceedings in the case took
place in the court of CBI special Judge Reetu Tagore and media
was kept out of bounds.
The court fixed April 4 and 5 for further hearing in
the case.
Earlier in January this year, two witnesses -- a
25-year-old woman and a 45-year-old J-K woman police constable
-- turned hostile and gave a clean chit to the accused.
The sex scandal rocked the Kashmir Valley in which
nine cases for various offences, including Section 376 (rape)
of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), Immoral Trafficking Act and the
Information Technology Act were registered.
Nine accused were named in one case, while three each
were named in the remaining eight cases. The names of Sabina
and her husband Abdul Hamid Billa figure in all the cases.
The other accused include former Jammu and Kashmir
minister Raman Mattoo, former DSP Mohammad Ashraf Mir,
bureaucrat Iqbal Khandey, former DSP Mohammad Yusuf Mir and
former Additional Advocate General Anil Sethi.
PTI
