CBI officer struggles to identify accused in court

A senior CBI officer, who had conducted searches at the residence of Jharkhand Ispat Pvt Ltd (JIPL's) director R S Rungta, facing trial along with others in a coal scam case, on Thursday faced difficulty in identifying the accused before a special court.

CBI's Additional SP S N Khan, who appeared in the court as a prosecution witness, initially failed to identify R S Rungta in the court room which prompted the agency's prosecutor to cross-examine him. During his cross-examination by the prosecutor, Khan said the accused was present in the <g data-gr-id="17">court room</g> and told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that with "due passage of time", he could not recollect certain facts correctly or identify R S Rungta initially. "At this stage, accused R S Rungta present in court on Thursday has been shown to the witness (Khan) and witness has identified him to be the same person who met him at the house and also accompanied them to the office premises (of JIPL) and was also the person to whom the authorisation letters were shown and copies of the two search list were handed over," the court noted.

"It is correct that with <g data-gr-id="19">due</g> passage of time, I could not recollect certain facts correctly or the identity of R S Rungta initially," he said. Khan told the court that on March 11, <g data-gr-id="18">2013</g> he along with a CBI team had conducted searches at the residence of R S Rungta and JIPL's office in Ranchi in connection with the case. When the witness said that Rungta was present in his house when the CBI team reached there, he was asked to identify the accused who was present in the <g data-gr-id="15">court room</g>.