The prosecution has recorded the statements of 114 key witnesses in the Kathua rape-and-murder case, and the statements of the accused under section 342 of the CrPC are being recorded in the Pathankot district and session court, sources told Greater Kashmir.
They said that there were a total 355 Crime Branch witnesses in the case and of them, two, including a chemist, who as per CB chargesheet sold sedatives to the accused, which were administered to the victim girl, have turned hostile. Of these, statements of 114 witnesses have been recorded. The prosecution has decided not to record the statements of the remaining 239 witnesses in the case, including those of Gujjar leader Choudhary Talib Hussain.
“Now, the statements of the accused are being recorded and cross-verified with the statements of 114 prosecution witnesses. At this stage, statements of the accused have been cross-verified with 50 prosecution witnesses,” they said.
Advocate Santokh Singh Basra, the public prosecutor in the case, told Greater Kashmir, “It will take around one week to record the statements of the accused under section 342 of CrPC. The defense will then present its witnesses in the case.”
Once both sides present their witnesses, there would be arguments between them followed by the judgment, he said.
Pertinently, the girl from the Bakarwal community disappeared from her home in Rasana village of Kathua district on January 10 last year and her body was recovered from the forest area of Kathua on January 18.
As per crime branch chargesheet, the 8-year-old girl was brutally raped and killed on January 14. Seven people have been arrested in the case.