Court acquits man accused of firing at police personnel in 2019

New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) A Delhi court has acquitted a man accused of firing upon police in 2019, saying there were contradictions in the testimony of witnesses and lapses in the investigation that created a "serious doubt" on the prosecution's case.

Principal District and Sessions Judge Sukhvinder Kaur was hearing the case against the accused, Sameer alias Mustkeem, 31, who was booked by the Shastri Park police station for various offences, including attempt to murder, assaulting or using criminal force against a public servant and possessing illegal firearms.

The prosecution had alleged that Sameer fired upon an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) and others when the police officials tried to apprehend him while he was attempting to break into some shops in a DDA market on August 25, 2019.

In an order dated October 13, the court said, "Though the prosecution witnesses have primarily supported the prosecution case, yet there are material lapses in the investigation which create a doubt about the authenticity of the prosecution's story." It said the prosecution’s version started with the secret information received by the police, where the accused was breaking locks and removing shutters of the shops, but there was "not even a whisper" regarding the damage caused to the shops.

"If the motive of the accused was to commit housebreaking and remove the articles from the shops, he would have been seen breaking open the locks of the shutters instead of sitting in a car, since it is not the case of the prosecution that apart from the car-driver, some other associate was attempting to break open the shutters," the court said.

It said that a pistol and three live cartridges seized from the accused were sealed with the seal bearing the initials ‘S’, which did not belong to any of the police officials present at the spot.

The court said there was no explanation as to why the residents of the nearby houses did not join in the proceedings.

It said, "Barring the material lapses, there are also material discrepancies in the testimonies of the witnesses inter se as well as with the prosecution's story." The court said that the complainant, a head constable, in his cross-examination had testified that the accused had fired shots at him and others from a distance of four to five metres, but it was highly improbable that no injury was caused to any police officials despite firing twice at such a close range.

It said, "Some of the contradictions in the testimony of witnesses and the lapses in the investigation go to the root of the prosecution's story and hence cast serious doubt on the veracity of the prosecution's case." Acquitting the accused, the court said that the case against him was not established beyond a reasonable doubt. PTI MNR MNR RT RT