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 | | A file photo of Brijesh Singh | A decade after the sensational JJ hospital shootout incident, the Mumbai cops are nowhere close to booking the main accused.
In a major setback for the prosecution, defence lawyer RK Pandey informed a special TADA court last week, that the police had failed to identify the accused Brijesh Singh during an identification parade.
Brijesh Singh, a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, was remanded to custody for his alleged role in the JJ shootout case last month.
On September 12, 1992, he had gunned down Gawli-gang member Shailesh Haldankar in JJ Hospital, killing two constables in the process.
According to the charge sheet filed by the prosecution in 1992, PSI Krishnaavatar Thakur and three other constables were guarding Shailesh Haldankar, a member of Arun Gawli’s gang, who had been admitted to the hospital. At around 3.45 am, Thakur claims, he heard a cracker-like sound and saw Singh trying to force his way through the door. He opened fire on Haldankar despite police presence.
“With the cops unable to identify Singh during the identification parade, the prosecution’s claim to have got the main accused of the JJ shootout has received a major setback,” Pandey said.
According to sources, the police also failed to extract a confession from Singh, hence weakening their case. “Their (police) only ray of hope is to get a confession from Virendra Rai, another accused in the case, who was brought in from UP last week,” said a source.
Special public prosecutor Rohini Salian said the police didn’t inform her. “I came to know about it when the defence lawyer informed the TADA court that the police had failed to identify Brijesh Singh,” she said. | 
