Pappu Kalani’s lawyer wants to withdraw from murder case

Thane, Aug 23 (PTI) In a sudden move, the counsel forincarcerated former Ulhasnagar MLA Suresh Pappu Kalani, who isfacing trial for the murder of Ghanshyam Bhatija, informed asessions court here that he wants to withdraw from the case. Kalani’s counsel Bhojraj Jeswani, who appeared for theex-MLA until recently, filed an application in the courtyesterday saying he wanted to move out of the case because hewas not getting any brief or instructions from the client. The step taken by Kalani’s lawyer to withdraw from thecase comes at a time when the witnesses are to becross-examined and the trial has reached a crucial stage. Judge M J Mirza, in the presence of special publicprosecutor Vikas Patil-Shirgaonkar, contacted Kalani throughvideo conference to know from him whether he would like hislawyer to move out of the case and whether he was interestedin cross-examining the witnesses. Kalani, who is lodged in Pune’s Yerawada prison, however,initially could not hear anything at his end because of poorconnectivity. Later, he told the court that he wanted toappear in person. However, the judge informed him that it would not bepossible to bring him to court every time and that he couldappear through video conference. The court also told Kalanithat his application for personal appearance was rejected. The court, while rejecting Kalani’s plea for personalappearance, referred to an earlier incident when he had mixedfreely with family and friends while on way to the court fromYerawada jail. The prosecutor informed the court that an inquiry hasbeen ordered into a recent incident where a picture, taken onmobile when Kalani was last brought to the court for hearing,had gone viral and kicked up a row. The case has been adjourned for the time being. Kalani and four others had been convicted and awardedlife sentence in 2013 in the murder case of Inder Bhatija. Heis currently being tried for the murder of Inder’s brotherGhanshyam Bhatija. While Ghanshyam (35) was shot dead on February 27, 1990,his younger brother Inder (30) was gunned down two monthslater on April 28. Both the murders had taken place in Ulhasnagar town ofThane district. Bhatijas were relatives of Kalani, but thepolitical rivalry between the families led to their murder,according to police. PTI CORR SVS GKDVSDM