India News | Delhi Court Acquits 4 Men in 2018 Murder Case, Says Many Loose Ends in Prosecution's Case
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A court here has acquitted four men accused of strangulating and killing a man to commit robbery, saying the prosecution failed to prove the charges and there were many loose ends in its version.
New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) A court here has acquitted four men accused of strangulating and killing a man to commit robbery, saying the prosecution failed to prove the charges and there were many loose ends in its version.
Additional Sessions Judge Geetanjali was hearing a case against Shivam, Sumit, Heera Lal and Mukeem. The Jaitpur police station had registered a case against the accused in 2018 for the offences of murder, kidnapping and robbery.
In its 75-page verdict dated February 11, the court said, "There are so many loose ends in the story of the prosecution."
"I am of the considered view that the prosecution has failed to establish the circumstances in which the accused persons alleged to have killed the deceased, Deepak. The testimony of the witnesses examined by the prosecution is insufficient to prove the involvement of the accused persons in the incident," the judge said, acquitting the four.
The court noted that there were no eyewitnesses or any direct evidence in the case and the prosecution relied on the testimony of deceased Deepak's father, Rama Shankar.
"The prosecution has attempted to prove the circumstance that the deceased was last seen alive in the company of the accused persons which led to the inference that the accused persons committed his murder," it said.
The court, however, added that the theory of last seen together "fell on the ground when the father admitted in his cross-examination that he had not seen the accused persons meeting his son".
The court took note of the prosecution's argument that the deceased's body and the nylon rope allegedly used to strangulate him were recovered in the presence of Rama Shankar.
The father, however, denied during his cross-examination that the body or the rope was recovered in his presence, the judge said.
The court said according to the prosecution, the robbed amount of Rs 4.5 lakh was found from the house of accused Heera Lal and the deceased's father had identified the bag as belonging to his son.
"The whole exercise is shattered by the one answer of the complainant, Rama Shankar, who has stated in his cross-examination that he is not the witness to the recovery of money and the same was told by the police to him," it said.
The court said the prosecution has failed to prove the chain of events, including the accused kidnapping Deepak, the act of strangulation, disposing of the body in a canal and robbing the money.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)