At least 70 people who do not support the prosecution case have been named as witnesses by the local police in the February 2002 Dipda Darwaja massacre case, it has emerged. At least 20 of these 70 witnesses have been found to be close relatives of the accused.

Eighty-three people are accused in the trial currently under way in the specially-appointed fast track court of Judge B N Karya. They were allegedly involved in burning alive 11 people and seriously injuring 21 at Chudi Vaas in the Dipda Darwaja area of Visnagar town in Mehsana on February 28, 2002.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) P R Agrawal said that while studying case papers closely, he realised that many witnesses named in the chargesheet by the investigating officer, then Police Inspector M K Patel, were not supporting the prosecution case.

“This act of M K Patel was definitely an attempt to weaken the case of the prosecution and to aid the accused in getting an acquittal from the court, as it is natural that these witnesses will not speak against their own close blood relatives. Patel could have avoided citing those people as witnesses,” Agrawal said.

A trial based on Patel’s chargesheet was close to conclusion when the Supreme Court stayed the proceedings and ordered further probe into this and several other cases related to the 2002 Gujarat riots. Subsequently, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court arrested the police officer on charges of conspiring with the accused, criminal negligence and abetment of the crime.

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