Police coached false witness days before arrest: Umar Khalid

The allegation was made during arguments on the framing of charges before additional sessions judge Sameer Bajpai at the Karkardooma Courts.

Student activist Umar Khalid on Wednesday alleged before a Delhi court that the police coached a false witness days before his arrest in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, who said that the JNU scholar attended a “conspiratorial meeting” at the Popular Front of India’s (PFI) office in Shaheen Bagh.

The lawyer cited a previous Khajuri Khas FIR in which Khalid was discharged in 2022, where a court had already questioned Kasana’s credibility

The allegation was made during arguments on the framing of charges before additional sessions judge Sameer Bajpai at the Karkardooma Courts.

Senior advocate Trideep Pais, appearing for Khalid, told the court that the police relied on a fabricated statement by Rahul Kasana, the driver of co-accused and former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain. Kasana allegedly told investigators that Khalid, Hussain and MBBS student Gulfisha Fatima met at the PFI office in Shaheen Bagh to plan the riots.

The counsel argued that Kasana’s statement was concocted just before Khalid’s arrest on October 1, 2020. “When he was first questioned in May 2020, he mentioned the riots but did not mention the alleged meeting held in January. Days before Khalid’s arrest, he suddenly remembers such an event and gives an untruthful statement the veracity of such statement must be questioned,” the counsel said.

He also contended that the prosecution was attempting to link Khalid to a non-existent meeting to bolster a weak conspiracy theory. “Khalid was not there at the meeting supposedly held on January 8, 2020… neither does he know what was spoken in what police claims is the main conspiratorial meeting between Gulfisha, Khalid and Hussain,” Pais said.

The court adjourned the hearing to Wednesday, when Pais will continue his arguments.