No evidence against 7th suspect in Deokaran case - NPA
A seventh suspect in the Babita Deokaran did not appear in court on Monday.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority and the Hawks, there was no evidence linking the man to the shooting.
Doekaran, who was the acting chief financial officer at the Gauteng Department of Health and a key witness into the department's personal protective equipment saga was gunned down outside her home last week.
Seven suspects were swiftly rounded up three days later, but only six appeared in court on Monday.
Zitha Radebe, Simphiwe Mazibuko, Sanele Mbele, Nhlangano Ndlovu, Phakamani Radebe, and Phakanyiswe Dlala are facing charges of murder, attempted murder, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
"We followed up on information we received last week, the seventh suspect was with one of the suspects who is linked to the crime committed. He was brought in for questioning, however, through the information that we collectively received on our investigation, he was not linked to the crime. But the case against him is provisionally withdrawn pending further investigation," said the Hawks’ Ndivhuwo Mulamu.
All suspects hail from KwaZulu-Natal but were arrested in Johannesburg.
Mulamu said more suspects will be arrested.
None of the suspects are officials or previous officials of the Department of Health or the Gauteng provincial government.
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