Mafia don Brijesh Singh, who carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head till he was caught in Orissa last year, has been acquitted in five murder cases over the last 20 days — because witnesses in each case turned hostile.

Among those who went back on their statements are policemen, close relatives of the victims, and people who had lodged FIRs naming Brijesh Singh as the accused.

The don is currently in Varanasi Central Jail, facing 17 cases in which he has been accused of heinous crimes, including several murders, in various districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The five acquittals, between August 19 and September 7, have caused a sensation in the legal community, and underscored the need for a comprehensive witness protection programme which has been repeatedly spoken about in the country.

Varanasi District Government Counsel Pradip Kumar Saxena, who appeared in all five cases, said, “The court of Additional District Judge P K Srivastava, while ordering acquittals in all five cases, observed that the examination of key witnesses, including the complainants, did not corroborate the statements earlier filed by the prosecution.”

Brijesh Singh’s co-accused in these cases had been acquitted earlier. Then too, most of the witnesses had turned hostile, Saxena said. “Action should be initiated against such policemen who turned hostile,” he added.

I-G, Varanasi Range, Gurdarshan Singh, however, said he was “not aware of cases where policemen have turned hostile”. Additional Director General (Law and Order) Brij Lal too said he did not know of any policemen who had turned hostile.

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