Mumbai: The sessions court today allowed the ossification test of Ayush Bhat, key accused in the Adnan Patrawala murder case, in order to determine his age.

Additional sessions judge R G Avachat accepted Bhat s application seeking to undergo the ossification test in order to determine his correct age.

Bhat has stated that he was a juvenile at the time of the incident and should thus be tried by the juvenile court.

Bhat will undergo the test at the government-run JJ hospital. After receiving the reports of the test, the court will decide on whether Bhat should be tried at the juvenile court and his bail application.

Special public prosecutor had opposed the application arguing that Bhat was 19 years and four months old at the time of the incident.

Nikam furnished before the court Bhat s school leaving certificate.

On August 19,2007,a group of four youngsters - Sujit Nair, Ayush Bhat, Rajeev Dharaiya and Amit Kaushal - allegedly kidnapped and killed 16-year-old Adnan Patrawala, son of a businessman in suburban Andheri.


In his bail plea, Bhat had claimed that he and his father had actually helped the police in finding the real culprits. However, when Bhat s name figured in media reports, the police arrested him too.


The application also claims that he could have been the prosecution s star witness, going by his close friendship with Adnan. Bhat has stated that the police wrongly mentioned his age as 18 in the arrest panchnama.
Source : PTI