TADA court adjourns hearing of Sanjay Dutt case to Monday

Defence counsel Aabad Ponda, however, objected to the line of questioning and requested the judge to exclude the material. He maintained that the statement of the witness needed to be excluded as he was referring to the statements made by the accused during the course of investigation and doesn’t fall under Section 162 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Satish Maneshinde, another counsel, also registered protest for this statement saying it doesn’t lead to any discovery and that the accused is now in police custody.

But the judge overruled the objection. At this point of time the witness complained of severe chest pain, following which Advocate Nikam asked the judge to adjourn the hearing to Monday. Sanjay Dutt, sitting near the counsels, informed he would come on any day as per convenience of the court.

Defence counsels, in the meanwhile, said they will not be able to attend court for some time as the bar association had proposed some strike and asked the judge to continue the case on January 5, 1998, after Christmas vacation. Dutt’s application for exemption from court proceedings is still pending before the judge. The prosecution has not registered any objections to it.