India News | Khwaja Yunus Case: No Response from State Govt on SPP Appointment, Says Maha CID

Mumbai, Aug 6 (PTI) The Maharashtra CID on Friday told a sessions court here that the state government has not responded to their multiple correspondences since 2018 on appointment of a special public prosecutor (SPP) in the custodial killing case of Ghatkopar blast suspect Khwaja Yunus.

Also Read | Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana: 50.78 Crore Persondays Employment Generated, 770522 Houses Sanctioned Under PMAY-G During COVID-19 Pandemic.

The state CID told court that an SPP was appointed earlier but it was cancelled in 2018, and the department's DIG had sent a proposal on May 23, 2018 seeking fresh appointment.

Also Read | Rajasthan Youth Dies After Bluetooth Earphone Device Explodes in His Ear During Phone Call.

"The record reveals that despite of repeated notices/letters to the state CID, no action has been taken by the concerned department to pursue the part-heard case of a murder in which police officers are accused. This would be mockery of justice that no heed has been given to the directions of this court since 2014 till today," the court noted.

The CID told court "there was no communication by the state government regarding our correspondence for appointment of SPP in this case", adding that "after six months, another correspondence was made to additional chief secretary (Home) Maharashtra government, and again on July 30, 2021 as per court's direction".

Chief Public Prosecutor Jaising Desai submitted that the COVID-19 lockdown be considered and requested the court to give them a month to pursue the matter regarding the appointment of SPP, which was allowed. He also assured the court that a senior officer from CID will attend each and every hearing to pursue the part-heard matter.

Meanwhile, former police officer Sachin Waze, an accused in the case, couldn't be produced before the court as he had gone to attend proceedings before a judicial commission in another case. The court allowed him exemption for the day.

Besides Waze, three other policemen are facing trial on various charges, including murder and destruction of evidence, in the Yunus case.

Khwaja Yunus (27 at the time), a native of Maharashtra''s Parbhani resident, was an engineer working in Dubai. He was detained soon after the December,2002 Ghatkopar bomb blast case.

While the police claimed Yunus escaped when he was being taken to Aurangabad for questioning, a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inquiry ordered by the Bombay High Court revealed he died in police custody.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)