Singh's cross-examination has also exposed a series of lapses committed by the CBI while arresting Memon.

Singh -- now Assistant Director, Interpol India -- who reportedly arrested Memon from Delhi railway station on August 5, '95, was subjected to three days of gruelling cross-examination by defence counsels Majeed Memon and Adhik Shirodkar. The cross-examination ended on Friday evening.

The first faux pas Singh admitted to was the panchanama carried out in the wake of Yakub's arrest. A panchanama has to be made in the presence of two independent witnesses, but Singh said that in the present case, those who had signed as witnesseswere deputy superintendent of CBI V K Bindal and another CBI officer S S Dagar. Thus the basic procedure had not been followed.

After admission of the procedural lapse, Singh also could not remember some of the vital details of the arrest. To begin with, Singh had trouble recollecting the Section under which Memon had been held. When the defence counsels pressed for an answer, he went through the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) Manual and stated the wrong section. ``I had effected the search and seizure under Section 51 of CrPC,'' he said, when the section under which search and seizure are effected under Section 101 of the CrPC.

Singh, who claimed to be an outstanding CBI officer, could recall all his successes between 1978 to 1993. But had trouble recollecting the events between 1993 and and 1996, when he was elevated to the post of AD in Interpol. Most of Singh's replies were peppered with lines like ``I don't remember,'' ``I can't recollect,'' and even ``I did not think it necessary andimportant.''

Among the things Singh had not considered necessary was asking for Yaqub's remand as an accused in the blasts case. The CBI officer charged Memon under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) but made no mention of the blasts case in the remand application. The only detail given to the court was Memon was member of an international terrorist outfit.

At the time of Yaqub's arrest, the CBI had seized three micro-cassettes and transcripts from him which not only established the involvement of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the blasts but also exposed the alleged involvement of then additional collector of customs S N Thapa.

However, Singh also did not think it important to mention this important seizure in the remand application.