CBI evidence in Tamang case too weak: Defence

TNN | Aug 3, 2017, Kolkata: Seeking discharge in the Madan Tamang murder case for the accused, defence lawyers on Wednesday challenged the evidentiary value of the call records and eyewitness statements the CBI has been relying on. 

Defence lawyers also claimed that the evidences were too weak to create "even a suspicion" about the accused.

Present at the court of chief judge Kundan Kumar Kumai, defence lawyer Debashis Roy argued the CBI was relying on call details record and some newspaper clips. "If anyone calls up another person, that does not make him or her a party to a crime. 

The agency has claimed that Asha Gurung had spoken to Roshan Giri's wife on the day Tamang was murdered. But that does not mean they were hatching a plot," argued Roy.

Defence lawyers pointed at "several shortcomings" in the three chargesheets filed in the murder case so. While the first chargesheet was filed by the CID in August 2010, two more chargesheets were filed by the CBI later. "CBI's second chargesheet was filed in August 2011 and Supreme Court ordered further investigation after that. Four years after their first chargesheet, they had filed the second and final chargesheet in 2015. The CBI included names of 23 persons including Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri. Why didn't they include their names earlier though their names appeared in the FIR?" said lawyer Sayan Dey.

Appearing for Asha Gurung and seven others, advocate Tirthankar Ghosh said one of the witnesses had given a statement against two of the accused persons — Sushma Rai and Kavita Dahal. 

"Her statement was recorded before a magistrate in May 2011. She amended her statement three years after that in July 2014. Surprisingly, it was done before the investigating officer," he said. "There are several such anomalies which raise questions about the value of the evidence," he said in court.

Meanwhile, the Bidhannagar Commissionerate has claimed that none of the accused in the case were harassed or intimidated. The response came after the accused submitted a petition in court and alleged harassment by police.