SALMAN KHAN's Hit and run Case RAVINDRA PATIL: THE DEATH OF A MESSENGER
Discussion in 'Members Club' started by Nair saab, Jul 3, 2013.
RAVINDRA PATIL: THE DEATH OF A MESSENGER
In India, the testimony of the prime witness is considered the most
important document in a criminal case, which often influences the final
verdict.
In the 2002 hit-and-run case of Salman Khan, the man who found
himself in the epicenter of the controversy, was the prime witness of
the case constable Ravindra Patil.
Those close to Patil admitted that he was under enormous pressure to change his statement.
There were many who wanted Patil to change his statement. They preferred
that Patil maintain that Salman leaned back to listen to him seconds
before he lost control of the wheel. This would mean that the accident
was caused by a 'human error' and not because he was drunk. Some people
wanted him to say that Salman was not drunk at the time of the accident.
Whatever be the case, Patil did not change his statement till the last day.
It was unclear who was putting pressure on Patil some say they were
all 'well-wishers' of Salman Khan from the police force while others
say that those talking to Patil were Salman's common friends from the
film industry. Whoever they were, the pressure tactic seemed to be
working as Patil was showing signs of a nervous break-down.
Why was Ravindra Patil so vulnerable?
Patil was a constable and hence belonged to the lowest rung in the
police force. He admitted numerous times that he was under pressure and
he would always try to duck the media.
During 2006, when the examination of witnesses was on, Salman had hired
the best lawyers in Mumbai who were all charged up to cross-examine
Patil. But then, something unexpected happened. Patil just ran away one
evening. His brother lodged a missing report about Patil at a local
police station.
Day after day, Patil chose to skip court dates because he didn't want to
face the defence lawyer. Soon, Patil came under scrutiny of the court
because he remained absent at the court hearings. The court proceedings
were stuck because Patil was absent in the witness-box. It also came to
light that he had run away without applying for leave.
In a strange twist of fate, a man who had actually lodged the first
information report against Salman Khan now had an arrest warrant issued
against him for not turning up at court hearings. The arrest warrant was
issued after he failed to appear for five consecutive court dates.
As the judge ordered that he be arrested and produced in court, his
seniors at the police force simultaneously approved that Patil be sacked
from his job because he was absent from duty. His seniors chose to
ignore the fact that technically Patil was 'missing' and not 'absent'
according to their own records.
Nobody was interested in knowing why he had run away from his house. Or,
why the same person who was so forthcoming in lodging a complaint
against a Bollywood star like Salman Khan, didn't want to take the
witness-box. Patil was never put under any witness protection programme.
Patil was sent to Arthur Road jail with hardened criminals
Like how they deal with a hardened criminal, a task force was prepared
to nab Patil and find out where he was 'hiding'. Finding him was easier
than anybody had thought because Patil was not hiding anywhere. Ravindra
Patil was actually staying in a small hotel in Mahabaleswar, just a few
kilometres away from Mumbai. He would come to Mumbai often to meet his
wife and family. He was not on the run from the police and was going
around telling everybody that he wanted to stay away from the Salman
Khan case.
He had repeatedly requested his colleagues in Mumbai Police to work out a
way so that he can be spared from the case. The problem was: He was the
prime witness and without him the case didn't stand a chance in a court
of law.
How many of you hate going to court? How many of you don't like how
witnesses are grilled in criminal cases by defence lawyers? Well, if I
go by Patil's example, then all of you should be put in jail. Believe it
or not, Ravindra Patil was sent to jail because of this 'crime'.
The special police team swooped down on him, arrested him and produced
at the court, the next day. The court sent him to Arthur Road jail, the
biggest jail of Mumbai where most of the high-profile criminals are
lodged.
Here are pictures after Patil's arrest post a raid at a Mahabaleshwar hotel.
In Arthur Road jail, Ravindra Patil was incarcerated in a separate cell
like they would treat an armed dacoit or a serial killer. Patil
submitted fervent pleas that he doesn't want to be grouped with
criminals at the Arthur Road jail but the court was in no mood to
relent.
Twice, Patil filed applications saying that he is a witness and that
he be held at Unit nine of the Crime Branch and twice the court ignored
the application. In his applications, Patil went on record saying that
he went absconding as he was mentally disturbed at the thought of being
cross-examined by defence lawyers. But nobody seemed to be interested in
what he was saying.
If the courts didn't pay heed to his pleas, his employers the Mumbai
Police seemed to be on some revenge spree. A 'missing' Patil suddenly
became an 'absconding' Patil in their own files and subsequently sacked
from his job. This junior-most employee in the force tried every trick
in the book to convince his senior officers that he should not be sacked
from his job. But nobody was ready to listen.
A witness was suddenly at the receiving end of it all. Life was
dealing this grand witness blows after blows while Salman Khan delivered
hits after hits at the box office.
The last days of Ravindra Patil
After Patil was let out of jail, he found himself in a strange
situation his family had disowned him and the Mumbai Police was not
ready to take him back. Patil didn't know what to do suddenly he was
the victim because he saw the accident and spoke about it.
A broken man by then, Ravindra Patil went missing again.
Patil was finally discovered at the Sewri Municipal hospital in 2007.
Patil was begging on the streets of Mumbai before he landed up at the
hospital. The years of acute stress coupled with heavy drinking had made
his body weak. Worse, he had contracted a drug-resistant tuberculosis
which fast tracked him towards an inevitable end.
Patil wanted to get back in the police force but he was just a bag of
bones lying on bed number 189 of ward number four on the fourth-floor
of Sewri TB Municipal Hospital. His family members were not aware where
he was and nobody had come to see him for a year.
Here are some moving pictures of Ravindra Patil, just days before his death.
Constable Ravindra Patil died on October 4, 2007.
Even after his death, there was nobody to take back his body. The friend
who had admitted him to the hospital was so scared that he didn't even
inform his family. In the end, his brothers came forward to perform the
last rites.
Before his death, Patil spoke to his friend expressing his wish to get
back to the force again while throwing up blood on the cold floors of
the Sewri Municipal hospital.
"I stood by my statement till the end, but my department did not
stand by me. I want my job back, I want to survive. I want to meet the
police commissioner once," were his last words.
Clearly, even God chose not to hear him.
Ravindra Patil never rested in peace.
https://www.saddahaq.com/human-interest/ravindrapatil/if-your-heart-goes-out-to-salman-khan-wait-till-you-read-his-bodyguard-ravindra-patils-tale
May 6, 2015 13:35 IST
If your 'heart goes out to Salman Khan', wait till you read his bodyguard Ravindra Patil's tale
Patil had deposed saying that Salman was on the
wheel and he was drunk. It was, in fact, Patil who had filed the first
information report in the case.
Popular actor Salman Khan has been convicted in the 2002 hit-and-run case. He faces five years in jail.
It has been a long trial of 12 years, which has had convoluted twists and turn, just like a masala Hindi movie often has. Key witnesses have turned hostile and one very important witness has succumbed to tuberculosis.
As
the case comes to its logical conclusion today, it will be apt to
re-tell the story of police constable Ravindra Patil, who is no more. If
your heart goes out to Salman Khan', then wait till you read Patil's
story.
The prime witness in the case, Patil, was Salman's police bodyguard, and was with the actor when the accident took place.
Patil
had deposed saying that Salman was on the wheel and he was drunk. He
had recounted having asked the actor not to drink that night as he would
have to drive back and it may prove dangerous while driving, but said
that Salman did not pay heed to his advice.
It was, in fact, Patil who had filed the first information report in the case.
However, something very strange happened.
In 2006, during the examination of witnesses of the case, Patil went missing. His family lodged a missing report at a local police station. For his failure to appear for five consecutive court dates, Patil was issued an arrest warrant, acting on which, Crime Branch arrested him from Mahabaleshwar, and produced him before a holiday court in March 2006.
According to a blog-post* titled Ravindra Patil: The death of a messenger' authored by journalist Soumyadipta Banerjee, which was later deleted,
"As
the judge ordered that he be arrested and produced in court, his
seniors at the police force simultaneously approved that Patil be sacked
from his job because he was absent from duty. His seniors chose to
ignore the fact that technically Patil was missing' and not absent'
according to their own records.
Nobody
was interested in knowing why he had run away from his house. Or, why
the same person who was so forthcoming in lodging a complaint against a
Bollywood star like Salman Khan, didn't want to take the witness-box.
Patil was never put under any witness protection programme.
Patil was sent to Arthur Road jail with hardened criminals."
In
the post that was later mysteriously deleted, the author claims that
Patil was under tremendous pressure to change his statement, or to say
that Salman was not drunk and that it was a human error. The post claims
that he dreaded facing the defence lawyers and thus fled the scene.
https://youtu.be/SyVLBz9eGW4
After being
released from the jail, Patil found that he was disowned by his family
and had no job. At this point, he reportedly went missing again. In
2007, he was discovered at Sewri Municipal hospital in 2007, where he
was battling drug-resistant tuberculosis. On October 4, 2007, he died a
lonely death, with only a friend by him.
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