Woman acquitted of charges of getting husband killed

A woman has been acquitted of charges of getting her husband killed with the help of an auto driver and contract killers by a Delhi court which said that police had failed to prove that the accused had any association and had conspired to carry out the crime.
Acquitting Sudesh of conspiring and killing her husband Tilak Raj with the help of auto driver Arif Khan, Additional Sessions Judge Gautam Manan said there is no evidence to show that there was any association between the accused.
"In the instant case, there is no evidence to show that there was any association, much less meeting of minds, between the accused persons. The prosecution has been unable to prove any of the circumstances to prove a conspiracy," the judge said.

"Thus, it is held that the prosecution has not been able to establish that a conspiracy was entered into by the accused persons to murder the deceased (Raj)," he said.
Acquitting Sanjay Patel and Mohd Afsar, the alleged contract killers hired by Khan at the behest of Sudesh, the court said that nothing has been recovered from the accused so as to relate them with the crime.
"As per the forensic science laboratory report, the DNA profiling of the accused persons could not be matched with the hair seized from the spot. There is absolutely no evidence on record to suggest that the accused persons committed the murder by inflicting knife blows on the deceased," the judge said.

"In the light of aforesaid discussions, it is held that the allegations against the accused persons are not proved. Accordingly, accused Sudesh, Arif Khan, Mohd Afsar and Sanjay Patel stand acquitted of the charges of the offence punishable under Section 302 (murder), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 34 (common intention) of IPC," the court said.

According to prosecution, Sudesh was allegedly having illicit relationship with Khan, who used to ply their auto-rickshaw and had conspired to kill her husband Raj, a Uttam Nagar resident.
For the purpose, Sudesh made advance payment of Rs one lakh to Khan and promised to pay Rs five lakh after the work was done. Khan on other hand hired two contract killers Afsar and Patel for Rs 30,000 each, to kill Raj, it said.

It further said that on May 16, 2013, after getting a signal from Sudesh that she is going for shopping with her children, Afsar and Patel entered the house and stabbed Raj multiple times with a knife resulting in his death.
Sudesh was apprehended by the police after her sister-in- law told the police that Raj had told her that his wife was having illicit relationship with their driver Khan.