NEW DELHI, 12 November 2002 — Embarrassed by the claims of a doctor that the shootout at the Ansal Plaza shopping mall was stage-managed, police yesterday said they could take legal action against him for not coming forward to record his statement.
Police officers are tight-lipped about the latest disclosure of Hari Krishna — that a senior police officer advised him on telephone not to speak about the incident and that he had tapes to prove it. But a police source said they could take legal action against the doctor, who claims to have witnessed the incident on Nov. 3 in which police killed two suspected militants.
"We served him a notice Saturday to record his statement about what he saw on Sunday. But so far he has not come. If he refuses to record his statement, we will approach the court, saying he is not complying with the legal notice," official said.
"He could be even jailed for that," he said. "There is no tape (of Krishna’s telephonic conversation with the police officer). If he has it, let him show to us. Why is he going to the media?" Krishna claims that the shootout at the south Delhi mall was stage-managed and police killed the two men who seemed to be sedated in cold blood.
He also says there was no crossfire in the shootout, contrary to police claims that the two Lashker-e-Taiba militants were killed in retaliatory fire at the parking lot of the mall.
