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Easy lies the head
on throne as complainant
makes somersault
WSN
Network
ROPAR: In keeping
with the pattern of witnesses turning hostile in court with the
change of the government, a key complainant in the case against
Badals has said now he never was the complainant. Shockingly, the
development did not shock anyone and even the media did little apart
from cursory reporting.
The prosecution
witness, Balwant Singh, himself a complainant, told Special Judge
G.S. Saran here that he never moved any application or affidavit
regarding properties of the Badal family. Badal and his family
members including wife Surinder Kaur and son Sukhbir Singh Badal are
facing a case of taking bribes and accumulating wealth during their
1997-2002 regime in Punjab.
Earlier deposition of
Balwant Singh of Mansa district had him saying that he did sign the
application and affidavit but during cross-examination, he made a
somersault and claimed he had no knowledge of the Badals' properties
and did not move any application/affidavit on the matter. "I have no
personal knowledge of the contents of the application and affidavit.
I was called by then media adviser to chief minister Bharat Inder
Singh Chahal, who got me to sign some papers."
Balwant Singh claimed
Chahal had the power of attorney, because of which he (Chahal) had
been taking his signatures for various purposes like management of
land and sale of vehicles. In view of this he (Balwant) kept signing
documents without reading, and did not know Chandigarh advocate
Vijay Kumar Gulati or stamp vendor Rajesh Kumar involved in the
matter.
23 January 2008
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