GUWAHATI: In yet another setback in the infamous Abhijeet-Nilotpal lynching case, another eyewitness – Dipen Rongpi allegedly changed his statement in a hearing held on July 12 in the court of the District and Session Judge, Nagaon.
It is to be mentioned that Rongpi was a very crucial witness as earlier the witness had identified as many as nine accused persons involved in the crime along with their names.
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However, on July 12 he denied all of his earlier statements and said he was not present at the place of occurrence of the incident.
He also stated that whatever he had said earlier in front of the magistrate was because he was harassed, threatened and also tutored to him by the Police.
It is to be mentioned that in the previous hearings prosecution witnesses – Numal Basumatary and Ujjal Mech too changed their versions while giving statements before the court.
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“A total of three out of nine eyewitnesses have turned hostile in the case so far,” said a friend of Nilotpal Das.
However, according to law a maximum jail term of 7 years can be sentenced under IPC section 193, in case of perjury against the hostile witnesses.
The next hearing will take place on July 23, wherein more eyewitnesses will be summoned for cross-examination.
