New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked
the witnessess in Nithari serial killings to approach the
trial court for protection if and when they fear threat to
their lives from any quarter.
A bench of Justices D K Jain and T S Thakur said the
trial court shall take expeditious steps to grant the
protection to the witness whenever such a request is made.
The apex court passed the direction while disposing
off a petition filed by Bandana Sarkar who alleged that her
husband Jatin Sarkar, a key witness in the grisly killings,
was eliminated at the behest of top CBI officials acting in
connivance with Moninder Singh Pandher, the co-accused.
The bench, however, refused to entertain the
allegations of the counsel B P Singh Dhakray that the then CBI
director Vijay Shankar and his officials were responsible for
Jatin Sarkar's killings.
"Why should the CBI Director do it? Is any of the
accused related to the CBI Director?" the bench said while
declining to entertain further arguments on the issue.
The UP police had earlier in an affidavit told the
Supreme court that Jatin Sarkar, a key witness in Nithari
killings who died under mysterious circumstances two years
ago, had never lodged a complaint with it on the alleged
threat to his life from Central Bureau of Investigation officials.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 23:08