New Delhi, Jul 31 (PTI) A court here has acquitted a man accused of murdering a private security guard in south Delhi's Greater Kailash area in 2020, saying the prosecution failed to prove the offence against him.

The court, however, convicted the accused for destruction of evidence, saying it was proved that he tried to burn the victim's body.

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Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Geetanjali was hearing the case against the accused, Imarat Singh. The FIR in the case was registered at C R Park police station under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the prosecution, Singh pushed Sarnam Singh Chauhan, who fell and sustained fatal head injuries on June 12, 2020.

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In an order dated July 28, the court said, "It has been established that the accused along with the deceased and two more persons, were together at kothi in Greater Kailash II, but the prosecution has failed to complete the chain of evidence that it was the accused who pushed Chauhan... leading to his death."

It said it was a case based on circumstantial evidence, where the cumulative circumstances did not form a chain so complete that there was no escape from the conclusion that, within all human probability, the crime was committed by the accused alone.

The court said that the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses examined were insufficient to prove the case against the accused.

"Prosecution has failed to prove that it was the accused who committed the murder," the court said, acquitting him of the murder charge.

On the charge of causing the disappearance of evidence, the court said that according to photographs, it was "apparent that an effort was made to burn the dead body as well as the surrounding area, and no question had been raised from the side of defence regarding the same".

It said that when police officials reached the spot, the accused was present on the spot.

"I reach the conclusion that the prosecution has successfully proved that the accused tried to burn the body of the deceased in order to cause the disappearance of evidence with the intention to screen himself from legal punishment. Accordingly, accused Imarat Singh is convicted for the offence punishable under Section 201 of the IPC," said ASJ Geetanjali.

(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)