BMW accident: Court says police can't be forced to tell contents of evidence to accused

New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) A Delhi court on Friday said police cannot be forced to divulge the details of evidence to the accused in the BMW accident case.

Judicial magistrate Ankit Garg was hearing a plea filed by Gaganpreet Kaur, 38, who was allegedly behind the wheel of the BMW that rammed into the two-wheeler of a senior finance ministry official, leaving him dead and his wife with grievous injuries in the Dhaula Kuan area of the capital.

She sought preservation of CCTV footage of the accident site.

"Orders for preservation of CCTV footage have already been given and clarification has also been sought from the station house officer (SHO) to see whether the seized footage contains footage from cameras at pillar numbers 65 and 67," the court said.

On September 18, Kaur's counsel Gagan Bhatnagar argued that the entire case rested on the CCTV footage and specifically mentioned the need to examine the footage of Dhaula Kuan metro pillars 65 and 67.

The court, however, held, "Prayer as sought in the application has already been allowed and its compliance is awaited. The prosecuting agency, at the behest of the accused, cannot be forced to tell the veracity and contents of evidence, as collected by them." It said the SHO of Delhi Cant had filed a reply stating that the CCTV footage, which covered the place of the incident had been provided by the authority concerned and was now in malkhana (storage place for articles seized by police).

"Let notice be issued to SHO to file a reply whether the CCTV footage as received contains CCTV footage from pillar numbers 65 and 67 also," the court said.

The accused, the court said, could not ask the prosecuting agency to make a statement about the evidence collected.

"Here, the accused is asking for a specific statement from the prosecuting agency that they have collected evidence which contains the incident of crime from specific cameras," the court said and posted the matter for September 20, when Kaur's bail plea would be heard.

The court had remanded her to judicial custody till September 27.

Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, Navjot Singh (52), who lived in Hari Nagar, succumbed to injuries on Ring Road near the Delhi Cantonment Metro station on the afternoon of September 14.

Singh along with his wife was returning home after visiting the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara.

A case was registered under Sections 281 (rash driving), 125B (endangering life or personal safety of others), 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the BNS. PTI MNR AMK AMK