A city court on Thursday dismissed the plea of an accused in the December 16 gang-rape case, to call Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as defence witness.
Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna refused the request of Akshay Thakur. Saying, "The request to summon the Chief Minister to prove the alleged controversy or alleged false recording of statement of the prosecutrix is nothing but an abuse of the process."The court also declined Thakur's request to summon SDM Usha Chaturvedi as a defence witness.
While filing the list of witnesses, AP Singh, counsel representing Thakur and another accused Vinay Sharma, had said there was a controversy surrounding the victim's statement under Section 164 of the CrPC and the manner in which it was recorded. He had submitted he wanted Dikshit's testimony to clarify the issue.
In December last year, the SDM had claimed that three senior police officers had interfered with recording of the victim's statement. Dikshit had written to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, demanding a probe into this. "Prosecution witness (PW-27) Usha Chaturvedi has already been examined/cross-examined extensively. Hence, the request is declined," the court said.