Court acquits four in murder case, terms probe "shoddy"

A Delhi court has let off four persons accused of murdering a man in 2011, saying "shoddy" probe was conducted by a police official against whom action should be taken.
Additional Sessions Judge Kuldeep Narayan acquitted north west Delhi residents Ranjeet, Rakesh and Sanjay Kumar and Dharmender, an Uttar Pradesh resident, saying the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond all reasonable doubts.
"A shoddy investigation of the present case was conducted in the most casual manner. The chain of all the circumstances put forward by the prosecution is not complete, pointing unerringly towards the accused persons who may be held responsible for commission of offence in the present case," the court said.

The court asked the city police commissioner to take note of the observations made against the investigating officer (IO) in the order and take appropriate action.
"A copy of the judgment be also sent to the worthy Commissioner of Police, Delhi to take note of observation the judgment in respect of Inspector Om Prakash, the Investigating Officer, and for appropriate action," it said.
The four men were accused of killing of one Ajay, who was found dead near near Bakkarwala School at Ranhola in north west Delhi in 2011.

The prosecution claimed that Ajay, who was married to one Mona, had left her and married another woman, Rubal. It was alleged that Mona had then married accused Ranjeet.

Ajay, who later got into a marital dispute with Rubal, wanted to bring Mona back. With this in mind, he started picking trouble with Ranjeet, the police claimed.
It alleged that Ranjeet and the other accused conspired and murdered Ajay by stabbing him on November 30, 2011.
Advocate Karan Pal Singh, who appeared for the accused, contended that the prosecution was not even able to prove that accused Ranjeet had any relation with Mona.
"The IO could not even establish if there was any female by the name of Mona and that is why, there is no statement of Mona recorded," he added.

The court also noted that even the mother of the deceased was not able to depose satisfactorily about Mona. It said that Rubal was also not aware of someone called Mona.
"Therefore, the motive as propounded by the prosecution that Ajay wanted to bring Mona back into his life" and that he was "interfering and creating trouble" in the married life of accused Ranjeet, prompting the murder, "borders on the figment of imagination as the prosecution miserably failed to establish the identity of Mona," the court said.
It also noted serious discrepencies in the version of the IO as his statements on isasues like Mona, the mobile phones of the accused and the recovery of the weapon used were "not free from doubt".