New Delhi, May 16
Rejecting former Uttarakhand Chief Minister ND Tiwari’s plea for an adjournment, the Delhi High Court today asked a court official to collect the blood DNA sample of the defiant 86-year-old Congress leader with police assistance to ascertain a claim that he is the biological father of 32-year-old Rohit Shekhar.

Justice Reva Khetrapal authorised the Joint Registrar of the court to take police help for bringing Tiwari to the court and collecting his DNA sample. The judge passed the order, declining the plea of Tiwari’s counsel for adjourning the hearing of the case as his client had moved the Supreme Court challenging the high court verdict on collection of the DNA sample.

The judge also made it clear that nothing would be allowed to come in the way of conducting the test as the Dehradun-based Congress leader’s pleas had already been rejected by the Division Bench of the HC as well as the Supreme Court.

The process for collecting the DNA sample would be initiated within a week after the Joint Registrar received the DNA sample kit from the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad, Justice Khetrapal clarified.

Nevertheless, the Joint Registrar would finalise on May 21 the date for taking Tiwari’s blood sample, she said, making it clear that the test would have to be conducted as quickly as possible in view of his age. Otherwise, Rohit stood to suffer irreparable loss, the HC pointed out.

On May 14, the Judge had asked Tiwari to decide by today whether he would give the sample voluntarily or face force through police. The proceedings in the HC relate to Rohit’s paternity suit claiming that he was born out of a relationship his mother, Ujjawala, had with Tiwari.