Aftab Ansari and Partha Pratim Roy Burman. Telegraph pictures

Criminal lawyers in Calcutta have decried the verdict in the Partha Pratim Roy Burman abduction case and wondered why the judge did not start perjury proceedings against the footwear baron.

The additional district sessions judge of the city civil court on Thursday sentenced Aftab Ansari and four others to life imprisonment for conspiring to abduct Roy Burman.

The lawyers termed the judgment “faulty” as it was “not based on the deposition of the prime witness”.

“Key witness Roy Burman or his family members did not identify the accused in the court. Nor did they mention that they had paid ransom to Ansari and his associates to secure Roy Burman’s release,” said a lawyer.

Tamal Mukherjee, who represented some of Ansari’s associates during the trial, said: “Of the 139 witnesses, none deposed before the judge that my clients had received ransom from the Roy Burmans in Hyderabad and sent the money to Dubai. But the judge made such observation in the order.”

The lawyer said he was planning to move an appeal before the high court soon. Shahid Imam, who appeared for Ansari, could not be contacted, but those who represented the other convicts echoed Mukherjee and said they were ready to challenge the verdict.

Uday Shankar Chatterjee, another criminal lawyer, felt courts should not come to conclusion on the basis of recorded conversation.

“In the Roy Burman abduction case, the court seems to have made up its mind after hearing a taped conversation. The tape, produced by the CID, purportedly contained the conversation Ansari and his associates had with the Roy Burmans while the ransom deal was allegedly being struck,” said Chatterjee.

Some lawyers think the trial judge should have initiated perjury (the crime of lying in court) proceedings against Roy Burman and other witnesses from his family for making “false statements”.

“If the court realised that Roy Burman and others were suppressing facts by withholding information about ransom, it should have started perjury cases against them,” said advocate Sailendu Kumar Rakshit.

The lawyers also alleged the government had “wasted” a huge amount of money on the trial. “Of the 22 main accused, 17 have been acquitted. This is callousness on the part of the government,” said a lawyer, who did not want to be quoted.

The Khadim’s owner was abducted from Tiljala on July 25, 2001, and was released after nine days. According to the prosecution, Roy Burman’s family secured his release after paying a ransom of Rs 3.75 crore to Ansari and his associates.

Ansari’s appeal in the American Center attack case case, in which he was awarded death, is still lying pending in the high court.