NEW DELHI, India: The Additional Solicitor General, Mr. G. Ramaswamy, on Thursday admitted in the Supreme Court that no doctor had been examined in the trail court in connection with the treatment for bullet injuries of Satwant Singh, the surviving alleged assassin of Indira Gandhi, in Ram Manohar Lohia hospital from October 31 to November 15, 1984.
Mr, Ramaswamy was replying to a query by the presiding judge, Justice G.L. Ray and Justice K.J. Shetty, hearing the appeals of the three accused in the Indira Gandhi assassination case.
Justice Oza observed there was no medical evidence regarding the condition of the health of Satwant Singh who, according to the prosecution, was shot by ITBP commandos after he had gunned down Mrs. Gandhi.
The Additional Solicitor General, leading the prosecution team, submitted Satwant was released from hospital at 1.30 a.m. on November 15, 1984, due to security reasons as people were agitated over Mrs. Gandhi’s assassination.
Mr. Ramaswamy, while relating the chronology of the events that led to Mrs. Gandhi’s murder submitted that initially only routine investigation of murder was carried out and no effective probe for conspiracy was done. This, he said, was due to the fact that Satwant was in hospital.
Referring to the absence of independent witnesses at the time of arrest of Balbir Singh at Najafgarh on December 3, 1984, Mr. Ramaswamy said for security reason it had not been disclosed to the people around him that he was being taken into custody in connection with Mrs. Gandhi’s murder.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 13, 1988
