New Delhi, 04: A Delhi court hearing cartoonist Irfan Hussain murder case has sought reply from former DCP T N Mohan on a petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against him for allegedly raising questions over the conduct of the Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) who was assisting the court in the case. Taking note of former app A K Padhy's plea, Additional Sessions Judge P C Ranga directed Mohan, who has since been transferred to Arunachal Pradesh, to submit his reply by December 6. Mohan reportedly had written to the Deputy Secretary (Home), government of the national capital territory of Delhi complaining about Padhy's conduct towards witnesses in court. Padhy was subsequently transferred to food adulteration prevention department.


He termed Mohan's letter as a fallout of the objections that he raised with the investigating officer, after some policemen who deposed as witnesses in the case turned hostile.


Padhy claimed that he had been "sincerely and honestly" assisting in the trial "in the interest of justice" and that the DCP's comments "tantamounts to interference in the administration of justice and is also an interference with the due course of the judicial proceeding and as such contemptuous as defined under the Contempt of Court Act 1971."

Irfan, was murdered and his body abandoned on a stretch of the Ghazipur National Highway in East Delhi in March 1999.

Six accused are standing trial in the case.
Bureau Report