Bidre case: prosecution submits witness list

The prosecution in the Ashwini Bidre murder case, on Monday, submitted a list of 139 witnesses before the sessions court at Panvel.

It also filed a list of documents submitted in the case and the court called upon the defence to either admit or deny them. The defence chose to deny the documents, and will be arguing on them in further hearings.

On August 30, the court framed charges under Sections 120b (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 364 (abduction) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) against the accused — Abhay Kurundkar, Raju Patil, Mahesh Phanlikar and Kundan Bhandari.

Additional charges under Section 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture) and forgery were framed against Mr. Kurundkar, the prime accused, who was in an illicit relationship with Bidre.

“In the next hearing, which is on September 30, all the recovered properties in the case will be submitted before the court. These include pen drives, hard disks and laptops,” advocate Pradeep Gharat, the special public prosecutor, said.