Bharuch murders: Three accused say NIA coercing them to confess

Ahmedabad: Three persons arrested in connection with the murder of two BJP leaders in Bharuch last year on Saturday told a special court here that officials of probe agency NIA were forcing them to admit they were involved in the crime but they refused to do so.

The accused, Nasir Khan Pathan, Abdul Salim Ghanchi and Shoaib Zoaid filed an affidavit in this regard through their lawyer.

The trio stated before the court of Principal Judge PB Desai that NIA officials were forcing them to confess to their crime under CrPC Section 164 but they have refused to do so.

A statement made under CrPC Section 164 before a magistrate is admissible as evidence in a court of law unlike that recorded in the presence of a police officer.

The three, lodged in Surat's Lajpore Jail, said that in case they are shown before the court as having confessed to the crime, it should be understood as being done under coercion and therefore not admissible as evidence.

On Tuesday, Pathan's wife Rukshana Banu had filed an application before the court stating NIA officials were forcing her to persuade her husband to admit to role in the twin murder.

The matter will be next heard on May 3.

NIA had earlier sought a three-day remand of the three who are among 12 arrested in the case. However, the court rejected the plea but allowed the anti-terror agency to question them in the jail.

The central agency is probing the murder of two BJP leaders Shirish Bangali and Pragnesh Mistry who were shot dead on November 2 last year in Bharuch, about 200km from here.

Bangali was a former President of BJP Bharuch district and Mistry General Secretary of the local unit of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, a wing of the saffron outfit.

NIA was handed over the case after Gujarat Police probe showed that the duo were murdered to avenge communal riots in Mumbai and Gujarat in 1993 and 2002, respectively

Police also claimed to have found the involvement of gangster Javed Chikna, an aide of overseas-based underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, in the murders.