Ruchika case: Key witness accuses CBI of altering his statement

PANCHKULA: Raising a huge question over Central Bureau of Investigation's credibility, the key witness in the Ruchika Girhotra case on Tuesday claimed that the central investigation agency had altered his statement in the closure report.
The key witness Vijay Dheer, who resided in the house opposite to Ruchika Girhotra in Sector 6, Panchkula, said that the CBI had lied and distorted his statement he gave to the premier investigation agency in February this year.
Vijay Dheer said that he had told the CBI that Ruchika's brother Ashu was handcuffed and paraded semi-naked in the locality on December 25, 1993 and brutally beaten up by the Haryana cops. Dheer said that he was an eyewitness and recorded the same with the CBI.
But the CBI in the closure report stated, "The shop keepers of Sector 6 market, Panchkula have stated that they neither heard nor saw Ashu being paraded by the police in half naked condition with hand cuffs in December 1993. The neighbours of SC Girhotra in his lane at Sector 6, Panchkula also denied having seen parading of Ashu on December 25, 1993."
Among the list of 76 witnesses, the CBI has listed Vijay Dheer at No. 71.
Meanwhile Ruchika's father SC Girhotra said that he was very disappointed. "The entire investigation by the CBI was an attempt to provide relief to Rathore," he added.
"I had also written a letter to the home ministry in February this year complaining about the biased attitude of CBI. Even the special secretary of home ministry had assured me to take necessary action," Girhotra said.
Recently CBI had filed its closure report in the two FIRs which were registered against former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore before the Ambala special CBI court.