In the traditional sense, Panches are five persons who act as independent witnesses during any police raid. However, a cruise raid conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) led to the actor’s high profile arrest. Shah Rukh Khanson of Aryan KhanTwo such witnesses were present whose legitimacy has recently been questioned by NCP leader Nawab Malik.
According to a report in the Indian Express, Malik claimed that the holding of these two witnesses is not good as one has links with a political party, while the other has a criminal record. He termed the cruise ship raids as ‘fake’ and claimed during a press conference in Mumbai that, “One of them (witnesses) is Manish Bhanushali, who claims to be a BJP office-bearer and the other is KP Gosavi, who claims That’s be a private detective.”
The Indian Express reports that NCB Deputy DG Dnyaneshwar Singh has termed the NCP’s allegations as “baseless”. Dnyaneshwar claimed that the two men were “among 10 independent witnesses who were used as panch in the panchnama” that were conducted by the bureau.
Who are Panch and what is Panchnama?
In a criminal investigation, a panchnama provides supporting evidence of an investigation conducted at the crime scene or seizure of material, etc. The proceedings of a panchnama are recorded in front of witnesses who are also known as panch. The witnesses corroborate the things found by the police and sign the panchnama.
The Indian Express report claimed that though panchs are generally considered to be ‘independent’ witnesses, it is sometimes difficult to obtain such persons during the ongoing raids. Therefore, in some cases, the Panches are people known to the police (although this should not be the case).
The issue of who the punks are is usually dealt with in the trial phase, and does not come to the fore in the investigation phase, as during that period it is not known who the punks are. However, according to a report in the Indian Express, the identity of the two punches in Aryan Khan’s case came into limelight as one of them was seen escorting Arbaaz Merchant by his hand on the camera, while the other posed with Aryan Khan. . It had gone viral since then.
What are the guidelines regarding who can be a panch witness?
The Indian Express report claimed, “As per section 100(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, ‘the officer … shall call upon two or more independent and respectable residents of the area where the place of search is situated or any of other area, if no resident of the said area is available or willing to be a witness to the search…’”
In the Aryan Khan case, however, a witness has filed an FIR against him. The Indian Express report said that the NCB claimed that they were not aware of the background of the five witnesses.
Panch witnesses are also considered only observers, they cannot take part in raids conducted by law enforcement officials and this is part of NCP’s charge against panch witnesses in Aryan Khan case.
NCP spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik had earlier said, “The person who took Aryan Khan’s hand inside the NCB office is KP Gosavi. Following this, a picture of him with Khan was released inside the NCB office. NCB officials later claimed that Gosavi was not an NCB officer. If he was not an officer, what was he doing with Khan inside the NCB office?”
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