Sri Vijaya Puram, Jun 3 Four witnesses have turned hostile in the 2022 gangrape case in which former Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chief Secretary Jitendra Narain and others were accused.
The four witnesses include the victim's husband and the ex-chief secretary's driver.
The prosecution, however, said that the hostility is not going to hamper the trial, as there are more than 100 other witnesses.
The case surfaced in 2022 when a 21-year-old woman from Sri Vijaya Puram lodged a police complaint accusing the then chief secretary Narain, former labour commissioner R L Rishi and others of raping her in the chief secretary's official residence under the pretext of providing her a government job.
The complaint prompted a probe by the local police.
Narain was removed from his post and transferred as the chairman and managing director of the Delhi Finance Corporation in July 2022.
However, the Union Home Ministry suspended the IAS officer in October that year on charges of "grave misconduct" and he was arrested next month.
Narain secured bail from the Calcutta High Court on February 20, 2023. He remains under suspension and is due to retire this October.
A Special Investigation Team in Sri Vijaya Puram filed a 900-page chargesheet, and the trial began on July 1, 2024, with Narain appearing via video link. The prosecution initially listed 115 witnesses.
However, court documents show that four witnesses have turned hostile and recanted parts of their earlier statements. The four are the victim's husband, the ex-chief secretary's driver, a CCTV technician and a government computer assistant.
Defence statements during the trial contradicted those recorded accounts, and the driver was officially declared hostile in October 2025. The prosecution has sought disciplinary action against him.
The victim, who has been under police protection since filing her allegation, had told reporters she now works in the security sector and prefers not to share much about her personal details. Her deposition and cross-examination spanned 10 days, concluding on February 6, 2025.
On March 12, 2026, the victim's husband turned hostile and denied that she was ever his wife, complicating the prosecution's position. The trial continues before the district judge in Sri Vijaya Puram.
Speaking to PTI, Chief Prosecutor Sumit Kumar Karmakar confirmed the development about four witnesses turning hostile.
"The hostility is not going to hamper the trial as there are more than 100 witnesses, and most importantly, the victim's evidence is very strong. The trial will continue," he said.
