Court appoints commissioner to oversee Pracha’s office computer

PRACHA IS REPRESENTING SOME OF THE ACCUSED IN CASES RELATED TO THE RIOTS THAT TOOK PLACE IN DELHI IN FEBRUARY LAST YEAR.

NEW DELHI: A court here on Saturday appointed a Local Commissioner (LC) and directed the police to coordinate with him a visit to advocate Mehmood Pracha’s office to seal his computer in a case of alleged tutoring of a witness in connection with the north-east Delhi riots.

The sessions court, which stayed till the next date of hearing, April 28, the magistrate court’s order directing a search warrant against Pracha to be executed, gave the directions after Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad did not object to Pracha’s proposal to appoint an LC. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana directed the Investigating Officer (IO) to go to Pracha’s office on Saturday and seize and seal the computer. It directed that the entire procedure be videographed in the presence of advocate Avneet Kaur who was appointed as the Local Commissioner.

The court, however, added that the computer will remain in Pracha’s custody and directed him not to tamper with it.

Pracha is representing some of the accused in cases related to the riots that took place in the national capital in February last year.

The court was hearing an appeal by Pracha against a magistrate court order directing the search warrant against him be executed in accordance with law, subject to the safeguards cited by experts.