“I am under pressure. Allow me to correct my answer as I got confused by the question,” Shadnagar ex-ACP Vasam Surender told the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Sirpurkar Commission inquiring the alleged encounter of the four accused in the rape and murder of Disha on December 6, 2019, on Monday.
Mr. Surender became emotional and folded his palms, pleading the panel to allow him to correct his reply to a question about whether all the police party and panchas left the spot and went near the direction where bodies of the accused were lying after the firing. Initially, the officer replied ‘Yes’ and later he told the panel that Lal Madar and Sirajuddin went first, and informed him that the accused were ‘not moving’ “Then I took Ravi and panchas and went there,” he said.
Taken aback by his sudden emotional beseech, former Bombay High Court judge Justice Rekha Sondur-Baldota said “It is a fact-finding commission. Why are you taking so much pressure. Relax.”
“For the first time in my life I’m facing a Supreme Court judge and a Bombay High Court judge, I’m under so much pressure” the officer replied. Further, Commission member and former director of CBI D.R. Karthikeyan suggested Mr. Surender to close the eyes, take a deep breath for two or three times, pray to his ‘Ishta devata’, before answering the questions.
