Khwaja Yunus custodial death: Plea to prosecute cops withdrawn after due consideration, Maharashtra govt to Bombay HC

Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that the prosecution has decided not to press the application seeking to add four police officers as accused in the alleged custodial death case of Khwaja Yunus, an accused in the Ghatkopar 2002 bomb blasts case.

An application was filed in 2018 by the previous special public prosecutor (SPP) Dhiraj Mirajkar under Section 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code to add four police officers – retired ACP Praful Bhosale, Hemant Desai, Rajaram Vhanmane and Ashok Khot – as accused in the case. Section 319 grants powers to court to make a person stand trial if his involvement emerges during trial.

The application was based on the testimony of a doctor, also an accused in the bomb blast case, that he witnessed four police officers torture Yunus leading to his death.

Within two months’ of filing the application, Mirajkar was transferred. Pradeep Gharat was appointed as SPP recently. He then sought withdrawal of the plea, which was allowed by the trial court in September 2022.

Yunus’ mother Asiya Begum approached the HC rejecting her application to add four policemen as accused.

During the hearing on Tuesday, Advocate General Birendra Saraf said that the decision not to press the application was based on sound material and on detailed inquiry.

Mihir Desai, counsel for Begum, argued that there were in all three witnesses who have said that Yunus was tortured. “Today one witness has testified about torture, his evidence has been recorded by the trial court. They (prosecution) will not call him as a witness at all in the trial. Once he is not called, there is not going to be more evidence because the trial is going in a different direction,” argued Desai.

Justice RG Avachat adjourned the matter saying that the court will review the case after two months based on progress before the trial court.

Who is Khwaja Yunus?

Yunus, a 27-year-old software engineer, was arrested in connection with the 2002 Ghatkopar blast. He was last seen alive on Jan 6, 2003. Those who were arrested with Yunus claimed that he was tortured by four officers in custody. Whereas, the police team led by now dismissed policeman Sachin Vaze claimed he escaped from their custody when a jeep they were travelling in for investigation, met with an accident. 

Following HC order on Begum’a plea, the case was transferred to the CID which called the police theory as false and registered an FIR against the police officers.