Police yet to find public eyewitness in Batla encounter case

Ahmed was arrested near the India-Nepal border. Police have failed to trace the weapon used by Shahzad to open fire at Sharma,and he has “confessed” to have disposed it in a canal near Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. Mohammad Saif,another IM member who was arrested from the flat after the encounter,could not be made a witness in the case as he had hid in the bathroom when the police team barged into the flat.

“There could be no public witness in the case as the encounter site was on the fourth floor. The six members of the Special Cell team and forensic team,which recreated the scene of the encounter,have been made witnesses in the case. Charges have been framed against Ahmed,but another accused,Ariz,is still absconding,” said a senior police officer.

Shahzad was allegedly one of the 21 young men who formed a module to execute the serial blasts in Delhi on September 13,2008,in which 21 people were killed. Shahzad only had Rs 170 on him when he fled the encounter site. “Even the members of the medical board,who conducted autopsies on the two alleged IM operatives and Inspector Sharma,will have to testify in court,” the officer said.

The investigation into the Batla House encounter was transferred to the Crime Branch soon after the incident.