New Delhi [India], March 31 : The Karkardooma Court has acquitted 12 accused in two cases related to murder during the North East Delhi Riots of February 2020.
In one of the cases, a body was identified through a DNA test. Delhi police had relied upon chats to show the complicity of the accused, Lokesh Solanki, in the alleged crime.
The court said that chats relied upon by the Delhi Police can not be substantive evidence to show that the accused killed the two deceased.
Two FIRs were lodged in Police Station Gokul Puri for the alleged offences of Rioting, murder, unlawful assembly, promoting enmity between the communities, destruction of evidence, etc.
Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala acquitted all the accused persons in both cases after considering the facts and circumstances of the cases.
ASJ Pramachala said, " In view of my foregoing discussions, observations and findings, I find that charges levelled against the accused persons in this case are not proved at all."
"Hence, all accused namely Lokesh Kumar Solanki, Pankaj Sharma, Ankit Chaudhary, Prince, Jatin Sharma alias Rohit, Himanshu Thakur, Vivek Panchal alias Nandu, Rishabh Chaudhary alias Tapas, Sumit Chaudhary alias Badshah, Tinku Arora, Sandeep alias Mogli and Sahil alias Babu, are acquitted of all the charges," ASJ Pramachala held on March 28.
Delhi police had relied on chats related to a group. They were also accused in other cases related to the murder of nine people.
The court noted that the accused in this case were accused in nine cases. The chats purportedly refer to the killing of two persons on the night of 26.02.2020. The same chat has been used to support allegations of the murder of nine persons.
"In the present case, the prosecution alleged the time of murder at 10.30 A.M. This scenario itself shows that these chats cannot be related to the incident probed in this case," the court pointed out.
It further pointed out that such a post may be made in the group solely with the intention of becoming a hero in the estimation of other members of the group. It could also be a boast without truth.
The court said, "Therefore, the relied upon chats cannot be substantive evidence to show that accused Lokesh had actually killed two Muslim persons. These chats could be used at most as corroborative pieces of evidence to support the substantive evidence showing Lokesh's complicity in the alleged incident. Hence, for want of any substantive evidence, they cannot be given much attention," the court held.
As per the chargesheet, on March 1, 2020, a PCR call was received that a body was lying in Bhagirathi Vihar Nala.
In this regard, DD No.18-A was recorded in PS Gokalpuri. Police had found one male dead body in a decomposed condition lying in the drain (nala).
The body was recovered from the drain and sent to RML Hospital, where the doctor declared him brought dead.
The body was preserved in the mortuary of RML Hospital for the purpose of identification. Later on, the aforesaid body was identified as Bhure Ali alias Salman by his brother Md Rafi
and father Hasan Ali.
As per the chargesheet in another case, one Aamin was killed. It was alleged that on February 25, 2020, at about 9:30 PM, the deceased Aamin was killed by the rioters and thrown in Nala, near C-Block, Bhagirathi Vihar, when he was coming on foot from Brijpuri Pulia.
During the course of the investigation, exhibits collected during the postmortem of deceased Amin, like Tooth and Blood on gauze, were sent to FSL, Rohini, Delhi, after taking blood samples of his parents, namely Shahbuddin and Amir Bano.
In this regard, the FSL result was received wherein it was mentioned that Shahbuddin and Amir Bano were the biological parents of the deceased Amin.
The court said that the question was whether the accused persons prosecuted in this case were members of the mob which killed Amin. When the court is not even sure about the incident wherein Amin was killed, and when there is no clarity from the evidence as to which mob had killed Amin, then it is only a formality to say that there is no evidence on the record to show that any of the accused was member of the culprit mob.