Bollywood actor Salman Khan sought before the Bombay High Court Yesterday (May 22nd) to have his name removed from a plea filed by the mother of one of the accused in a case involving firing at his house, who died in police custody.
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MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Salman Khan approached the Bombay High Court seeking the removal of his name from a plea filed by Rita Devi, the mother of Anuj Thapan, an accused in a case involving a firing incident at Khan’s residence. Thapan died in police custody.
Khan’s lawyer, advocate Aabad Ponda, argued for the deletion of the actor’s name as a respondent in the plea, stating that the petitioner had not made any allegations against Khan.
“The actor is in fact the victim here. Someone tried to attack him (Khan) and his house. He does not know who is behind the attacks and who have been arrested,”
-Ponda submitted.
He emphasized that including Khan as a respondent was sending the wrong signal and damaging his reputation.
In response, an advocate representing Thapan’s mother clarified that the petitioner was not seeking any relief or action against Khan at the present time.
The bench, comprising Justices N.R. Borkar and Somasekhar Sundaresan, was hearing Rita Devi’s petition. Devi, the mother of Anuj Thapan who died on May 1 inside a police station’s toilet, alleged foul play in her son’s death, claiming he was killed, whereas the police claimed Thapan died by suicide.
Expressing displeasure over the “incomplete” autopsy report of Thapan, the court questioned the prosecution about the missing details. The report indicated that Thapan died due to asphyxiation but lacked critical information, such as a diagram of the ligature mark on his neck and any other injuries on his body.
“Where is the diagram of the ligature mark? Is the ligature mark oblique in shape or round? Death by asphyxiation can also be because of strangling. It need not be because of hanging only,”
-the bench asked.
Highlighting the missing details, the High Court said,
“This is not a complete post-mortem report. It is incomplete,”
Additional Public Prosecutor Jayesh Yagnik presented a preliminary report on the enquiry by the state CID into Thapan’s death and his post-mortem report. He mentioned that the investigating team would make necessary enquiries with the concerned doctors.
The bench directed a copy of the report to be handed over to the petitioner and scheduled the matter for further hearing in June.
The incident dates back to April 14, when two bike-borne individuals fired shots outside Salman Khan’s residence in suburban Bandra. The perpetrators, Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, were later arrested in Gujarat. Anuj Thapan was arrested on April 26 from Punjab along with another person in connection with the case but died in custody.
Rita Devi’s petition seeks a CBI probe into her son’s death, alleging that he was physically assaulted and tortured by the police while in custody. So far, five accused have been arrested in connection with the firing incident. While four are in judicial custody, the fifth accused, arrested earlier this week, remains in police custody.
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