Chandigarh, Feb 5: Counsel for Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh challenged the prosecution’s ballistic evidence before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, citing contradictions in the chain of custody. During the hearing of an appeal against his life sentence in the Ram Chander Chhatrapati murder case, the defense argued that a crucial piece of evidence could not have been legally examined by experts.
The defense team, appearing before Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal, noted that the bullet recovered from the journalist’s body during the 2002 post-mortem remained in a sealed container from the moment of recovery until it was opened in a trial court in 2011.
“If the bullet was still sealed with AIIMS seals when produced in court, the prosecution must explain how it was examined earlier,” the defense argued.
The legal team mentioned that the plastic container was only opened with specific court permission during the examination of the ballistic expert. This raises questions regarding the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report, as the defense claims the expert would not have had access to the sealed evidence.
Furthermore, the defense contested the feasibility of the prosecution’s claims regarding identification marks.
“It may be possible to engrave markings on a weapon barrel, but not on a fired bullet recovered from a human body,” the counsel said, describing the idea of signatures on a deformed bullet as improbable.
