The CBI opposed the plea stating that an accused had no right to call a prosecution witness for cross-examination. "It is the discretion of the prosecution to examine or drop witnesses cited in the chargesheet. The accused has no right to call a prosecution witness for cross-examination. The application filed by the accused to examine Mukesh Ambani as a prosecution witness and to cross-examine him is contrary to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the application is not maintainable in law," the CBI reply stated. The CBI on Thursday opposed before a special court a plea to summon industrialist Mukesh Ambani as a witness in the 1989 case of alleged conspiracy to murder industrialist Nusli Wadia. An accused in the case, Ivan Sequeira, had last week sought that Ambani be summoned as a witness.
The CBI opposed the plea stating that an accused had no right to call a prosecution witness for cross-examination. “It is the discretion of the prosecution to examine or drop witnesses cited in the chargesheet. The accused has no right to call a prosecution witness for cross-examination. The application filed by the accused to examine Mukesh Ambani as a prosecution witness and to cross-examine him is contrary to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the application is not maintainable in law,” the CBI reply stated.
It added that the evidence in the case was closed on June 27 after the examination of 41 witnesses. The central agency said that the prosecution had dropped all remaining witnesses, including Ambani, whose statement was recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC and was part of the chargesheet. The CBI said that the statement recorded under Section 161 of the CrPc is inadmissible in law . The plea will be heard again on August 1.
Subscriber Only Stories
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd