The Delhi Police Commissioner has been directed by a court here to take action against its official for conducting a "sham investigation" and not probing "hate crime" or "honour killing" angle in a murder case in which five men have been acquitted.
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau said there was no direct or last seen evidence against Delhi residents Rajesh, Priyavrat, Pawan Pandit and Sanjay Rathi nor any other proof to indicate and confirm any conspiracy or their involvement in the killing of 25-year-old Kuldeep.
While acquitting the fifth accused Ram Roop, the court said two views were possible, one of which heavily favoured him and demolished the entire prosecution case.
"The electronic evidence nails the lies of investigating agency and the investigating officer (IO) has not bothered to investigate this hate crime and the aspect of honour killing of the deceased and the involvement of the persons of the village with whom there was a dispute with the deceased in the morning when a call was made to the police," the court said.
"In view of the lapses and wrongs of the IO as highlighted ...,I hereby direct that a copy of this order be placed before the Commissioner of Police, Delhi and GNCT of Delhi (Home Department) through the Director of Prosecution, Delhi for information and appropriate action in accordance with law, in terms of the directions of the Supreme Court...," the judge said.
According to the prosecution, all the five accused had conspired and murdered Kuldeep on February 10, 2012 by firing at him near a field at Qutubgarh-Sohti Road here. The body of Kuldeep, a resident of village Auchandi here, was found near a poultry farm and nine empty cartridges were recovered.
The court noted that from other record and testimony of Kuldeep's mother,"it became clear that he was into an intimate affair with a girl of different community of the same village and a couple of days prior to the incident, the girl had stayed overnight with the victim due to which there was large- scale resentment and outrage in the village and even an altercation had taken place on the morning of the incident.
