The prosecution agency --Special Investigating Team (SIT)-- in the Gulbarg Society riot case, where former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri and 68 others were killed in 2002, today narrated the account of their prime witness before the trial court here.
Special Public Prosecutor R C Kodekar of SIT narrated the testimonial account of 'witness number-106' (of the prosecuting agency) Imtiyaz Pathan, who had identified eight accused in the riot case, before the special trial court of Judge P B Desai.
Pathan had identified eight witnesses in the case. Two out of them are absconding while six were identified during the court proceedings, Kodekar said.
As per the statement of the witness, a mob had started gathering near the gate of Gulbarg society at around 10 am on February 28. Two persons, who were standing near an auto- rickshaw named as Yusuf and Ayub were beaten by the mob and the auto-rickshaw was torched, Kodekar told the court.
Prior to that, members of the Muslim community, who were living at surrounding area of Gulbarg Society, came to the Society finding it a safer place, he said as per the key witness' account.
The unruly mob had gathered outside Gulbarg and then climbed up on the terrace of bungalow number-one in the Society and started pelting stones, he said.
The key witness could identify the accused as both (the accused and witness) had kept socialising on earlier occasions as they also even played cricket together in the area, Kodekar said.
The prosecution will tomorrow continue narrating the statement of their key witness.
On November 13, the Supreme Court had directed the SIT which probed the nine riot cases including the Gulbarg Society case, to proceed expeditiously and complete hearing of the case in three months.
However, the bench said that judgement should not be pronounced by the trial court without its permission.
A day after the Sabarmati S-6 coach burning incident near Godhra railway station, 69 people were allegedly killed by a mob at Gulbarg Society on February 28, 2002 during the riots.
