A Delhi court has acquitted three persons in a 2012 murder in east Delhi’s Ghazipur as the deceased’s brother-in-law and his wife gave contradictory statements during the trial.
The brother-in-law is the complainant and the lone eyewitness to the murder, while his wife had last seen the deceased, who was her brother, with the accused. “The admission by the complainant and his wife that they had lodged a missing report [after the incident] casts serious doubt on their testimonies that the complainant had actually seen the incident on August 16, 2012,” Additional Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra said.
“There is no explanation as to why a missing report regarding his brother in-law Naresh was lodged by the complainant a day after the incident, when he claimed that he saw the accused committing the murder...” the judge said.
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The court also pulled up the Investigating Officer (IO) in the case for lapses in the probe. “There are several major lacunae in the investigation conducted by the IO. It is admitted case of the prosecution that complainant as well as accused Mahesh and Ravinder were residing as tenants in the house of one Dharampal. The complainant said he narrated the incident his landlord Dharampal on the following day... IO Inspector Sunil Kumar himself admitted that no statement of Dharampal was recorded by him during investigation,’’ the judge said.
“In view of the foregoing discussion, it can safely be held that the statements of complainant Anand Thakur and his wife Anita Thakur, coupled with the other evidence brought on record, show that prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt...,” the judge said.