The “star” prosecution witness in the high-profile 2G scam case on Thursday claimed that a person present in the court had threatened to kill him and his family.
Minutes after Asservartham Achary, ex-aide of former communications minister A. Raja, said that the person had just left the court of special CBI judge O.P. Saini, police personnel in the courtroom caught hold of Jai Prakash, a peon with Reliance Power in Noida. Prakash was then produced before the court and later let off.
The incident took place when Sushil Kumar, the senior advocate for Mr Raja, was cross-examining Mr Achary when he suddenly got up with tears in his eyes, started trembling and then sought permission from the court, in a choked voice, to allow him to narrate a sequence of events “that affects my life”.
Mr Achary, after Mr Kumar asked him why he had gone to the CBI office on September 5, 2011, said, “I want to submit something as my life depends on it and the lives of my wife and four-year-old daughter depend on it. I am in danger... The person who tried to kill me is just here in the courtroom. He was sitting along with R.K. Chandolia in the case since the morning.” Mr Achary and his PSO identified him as the same person who had come to his house on August 20 evening to meet him on the pretext of being his relative. On being questioned by the judge about who he was and what he was doing in the court, Mr Prakash said he did not know Mr Achary or his PSO and that he used to come to court to fetch water and food for Reliance ADAG officials Gautam Doshi and Surendra Pipara, both facing trial in the 2G case.
The special judge asked Mr Pipara whether he (Jai Prakash) “was his man”. “He just gives us water,” Mr Pipara said.
The judge asked Jai Prakash for what purpose he had gone to Mr Achary’s residence. “I do not know Safdarjung Enclave. I have been in the court since two-three months. I do not know them,” he said, after which the judge asked the police to interrogate him and take action, if needed, against him.
Later, the police said no case had been registered against Jai Prakash as after interrogation it appeared that he was not involved in threatening Mr Achary. Mr Prakash was let off.