Citing the clean chit given by the victim to the accused in a robbery case, the Delhi High Court has acquitted him, saying that the trial court judgment holding him guilty and awarding sentence in the case cannot be sustained.
The prosecution allegation against the accused, Khazanchi, was that he had robbed a man of his mobile, ATM and I-cards and Rs. 1,500 in cash in 2008.
There were three more accused in the case. The trial court had acquitted two of them as the victim refused to identify them in the trial. The victim had implicated only Zakir, the fourth accused in the case, who had used a knife while committing the robbery. He had been arrested by a constable after a chase. The victim did not identify Khazanchi to be amongst the robbers.
He stated that Khazanchi was apprehended after two or three days of the incident. The prosecutor examined the complainant. However, no material emerged in the cross examination to implicate the present appellant, the Court said.
He denied the suggestion that Khazanchi was apprehended by him at the spot or that the robbed articles were recovered from his possession.
In his cross-examination by the defence counsel, the complainant disclosed that there were three or four persons involved in the robbery and all, but one, had managed to flee. Only Zakir was apprehended at the spot and was taken to the police station.
“The complainant also did not identify the two accused who were acquitted by the trial court. They were given the benefit of doubt and were acquitted in this case on the same set of evidence. Since the complainant did not identify the present appellant and established his involvement in the incident, he too deserves benefit of doubt,” the Court said.
Quashing his conviction, Justice S. P. Garg said: “The appeal is allowed. The conviction and sentence qua appellant-Khazanchi are set aside.”
