Six men acquitted in attempt to murder case

Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat absolved South West Delhi residents Vikash Rana, Mukesh, Kuldeep Pahalwan, Mahesh Rana, Virender and Devender of the charges of trying to kill complainant Pawan Singh.

"The prosecution has not succeeded in proving the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. The accused are liable to be acquitted and are hereby acquitted," the judge said.

According to the prosecution, the six accused had picked up a verbal fight with Pawan's elder brother on a trivial issue on October 28, 2009 at Dwarka here and attacked him with a spade.

Pawan told the court that as he attempted to intervene and pacify the accused, they abused and attacked him due to which he fell unconscious and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

He told the court he regained consciousness in the hospital the next day but could not give his statement to the police as he was not fit for it.

He told the court he gave his statement to police on October 30 and got the FIR registered on November 1, 2009.

The accused, on the other hand, said they are innocent and were falsely implicated in the case.

The defence counsel told the court the delay in lodging the FIR showed it had been registered after extensive deliberations and added the case deserves to be dismissed on this count alone.

The court, while letting off the accused, observed there was an "inordinate and unexplained delay" in filing the FIR, which casted doubt on the prosecution case.

"Inordinate and unexplained delay committed by Pawan in giving statement to the police cast serious doubts in the prosecution case," the judge said.