Gujarat riot witness alleges threat, again

One of the main witnesses in Naroda Gaam massacre case of 2002, Imtiyaz Ahmed Qureshi, has once again made allegations of intimidation. According to Qureshi, he has received missed calls from one Prahlad Parmar, who is allegedly a close ally of VHP leader Jaideep Patel.

"I received a miss call from Parmar's number a week back. I ignored it thinking that Parmar dialed my number by mistake. But he gave missed calls after that day, and gave two missed calls on Sunday," alleged 35-year-old Qureshi, a resident of Relief Road.

According to Qureshi, Parmar is trying to inject fear in his mind, as the court is in process of issuing summons to main accused Jaideep Patel.

Qureshi, who runs a banner printing business, also alleges that Parmar wants him to withdraw himself from the list of witnesses in the case.

"Back in 2009, and 2010, I had received calls from Parmar, a resident of Meghaninagar, threatening me to withdraw as a witness. I had also filed a complaint with the SIT and Karanj police about such threat calls. Now, he has started threatening me by giving missed calls," said Qureshi, who also alleged that Karanj police refused to take his complaint on Sunday.

According to Qureshi's complaint to SIT in 2010, Parmar, who owns a hospital in the city and a nursing college in Dehgam, had threatened him with dire consequences if he did not volunteer to withdraw his name from the list of witnesses in the case. The complaint further alleges that Parmar bragged about his 'connections' with IPS officers and politicians in the state.

"I, along with my family, am under immense pressure after Parmar's missed calls. When I tried to file a complaint, officials of Karanj police argued that giving missed calls is not an offence," said Qureshi, who is now seeking help of his lawyer in the matter.