CHANDIGARH: In a yet another blow to the prosecution in the Jammu and Kashmir sex scandal, two more witnesses turned hostile in the CBI court on Thursday.
One of the witnesses in the case, Mehrajuddin, a hotel-owner, deposed in the court that SHO Asram Mir used to raid his hotel and that he knew nothing more than that.
Another witness Mohammad Ayub Nazir, a resident of Srinagar, also took a U-turn from his statements in the court today. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for March 17.
The scandal broke in the summer of 2006 when the J&K Police stumbled upon two sex CDs. The CDs featured a teenaged Kashmiri girl, who was soon identified. She told the police how she and other girls were forced to have sex with senior officials of the administration and security forces.
At that time, pamphlets were circulated against several ministers in the PDP-Congress coalition regarding their involvement in the scandal.
A CBI probe was ordered. Soon, state ministers GM Mir and Raman Mattoo, principal secretary Iqbal Khandey and BSF DIG KC Padhe were arrested for raping a minor.
A total of nine cases for various offences, including Section 376 (rape) of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), Immoral Trafficking Act and the Information Technology Act, were registered.
Nine persons were accused in one case while three each were named in the remaining eight cases.
In September last year, the CBI court acquitted three accused in three cases pertaining to the scandal. These were former state minister Raman Mattoo, Congress legislator GA Mir and IAS officer Iqbal Khanday, who were acquitted under Section 5 of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act.
The court gave them benefit of doubt as the victim turned hostile while recording her statement in the court. Cases against the rest are pending.
(TNS)
