Nirbhaya case accused drops 2 witnesses

NEW DELHI: A fast-track court could not record the statement of two defence witnesses in the Nirbhaya case as they were not present on Monday, and the counsel for an accused submitted that he did not want them to depose.
Vivek Sharma, the counsel for accused Pawan Gupta, told additional sessions judge Yogesh Khanna that he wants to drop the two witnesses, supposed to depose on behalf of the accused on Monday.
Pawan, who was allowed to produce seven witnesses in his defence, made the request to the judge without disclosing the reasons for the witnesses’ failure to appear. The court, while allowing the defence counsel’s request, asked Pawan to produce the remaining one witness.
“The aforesaid witnesses are dropped from the list of witnesses. Regarding witness Hari Kishan, it is submitted that his son-in-law has expired and this witness would appear in court probably on Wednesday or Thursday,” the court said, while directing Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur’s counsel A P Singh to bring defence witnesses, if any, by Tuesday.
The court has recorded the testimony of four defence witnesses, including Pawan’s father, who had told the judge that his son was innocent and implicated by police.