New Delhi: A Delhi court has acquitted 12 men accused of abducting and murdering a man during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, saying that the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt due to major contradictions in eyewitness testimonies and weak corroborative evidence.
Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh was hearing the case against Lokesh Solanki, Pankaj Sharma, Sumit Chaudhary alias Badshah, Ankit Chaudhary alias Fauzi, Prince alias DJ Wala, Rishabh Chaudhary alias Tapas, Jatin Sharma alias Rohit, Vivek Panchal alias Nandu, Himanshu Thakur, Sahil alias Babu, Sandeep alias Mogli and Tinku Arora, who were accused of murdering Musharraf.
In an order dated April 21, the court said, “Prosecution has failed to prove its case against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt and the accused are entitled to benefit of doubt. All the accused are accordingly acquitted of the charges framed against them.”
All accused were arrested in connection with the case related to the death of Musharraf, whose body was recovered from a drain in Bhagirathi Vihar on February 27, 2020, amid widespread communal violence in the area.
The prosecution alleged that on the night of February 25, a mob of 150-200 people forcibly entered Musharraf’s residence, dragged him out, assaulted him and later threw his body into a drain.
Charges were framed under various provisions, including murder, rioting, unlawful assembly, kidnapping, destruction of evidence and promoting enmity against the accused persons.
This story was originally published in siasat.com. Read the full story here.
