Sarabjit Singh case may reopen: Lawyer

Giving a ray of hope to the family of Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in Pakistan, his lawyer on Monday said there was fresh evidence to prove his innocence in 1990 Lahore and Multan blasts case and that he has filed a fresh mercy petition.

"Sarabjit's is a case of mistaken identity. I have collected ample evidence against the real culprit, which will be presented in court," Sarabjit's lawyer Awais Sheikh, who was in Chandigarh to attend a seminar, told mediapersons.

He said he has filed a fresh mercy petition seeking either Sarabjit's release or commuting his death sentence and has also written to the chief justice of Pakistan in pursuit of reopening of the two-decades-old case.

Sarabjit was convicted for his alleged involvement in the 1990 bomb blasts in Lahore and Multan that killed 14 people. He is presently imprisoned at a Lahore jail after being awarded death sentence by a Pakistan court.

Sheikh said the main accused in the case was Manjeet Singh, whose name appears in the first information report on the basis of which Sarabjit was arrested. "In the FIR, the name of the accused had been mentioned as Manjeet Singh and not Sarabjit Singh," he said.

"Manjeet was a fraud and had also been arrested by the Canadian police and kept in jail for three years. I have collected evidence on Manjeet's presence in Pakistan at the time of the blasts and a photo of his marriage with a Pakistani woman," he added.

The lawyer said he has brought with him letters written by Sarabjit to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani. He has also brought hand-made gifts sent by Sarabjit for Sonia Gandhi and his daughter Swapandeep Kaur. Sheikh met Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh who said he would hand over the letters and gifts to Gandhi.

"Sarabjit's case is a question of doubt and normally in such circumstances a person is pardoned," Amarinder said.

Talking about Sarabjit's wellbeing in jail, Sheikh said he is in "very good" health, though his eyesight had become weak and he has provided him spectacles.