Prosecution lawyer Praful Shandilya told The Indian Express: “The turning hostile of the key witnesses, including the three police eyewitnesses, was a major blow. In fact, the Supreme Court had told the witnesses to fearlessly speak in the Nagpur court. I had sought a fresh probe too which was granted by the court, but the police again failed to do its job well. The witnesses turned hostile here too. Now it remains to be seen how the court has dealt with the video evidence in the form of media CDs that had witnesses saying they had seen the assailants doing the act.”

Sabharwal, head of the political science department of Madhav College, Ujjain, died in August, 2009, after violence in the college over student union elections when he was allegedly beaten up by the ABVP activists. Later, he died in a hospital.