The father and elder brother of a man, who was allegedly attacked with a knife and thrown off a roof by them, have been acquitted of the charge of attempting to murder him by a Delhi court after the victim turned hostile.
Additional Sessions Judge Dinesh Bhatt acquitted victim Manoj's father Suresh and his brother Sumit of the charge of attempt to murder under section 307 of the IPC, while noting that the victim and his wife, who was also an eye witness, resiled from their statements.
"In view of the facts and circumstances of the case where both eye witnesses have resiled from their statements and have failed to attribute any role of the accused persons in the offence in question...Accused persons are acquitted," the judge said.
According to the prosecution, Manoj and his wife had lodged a complaint with the police that on the night of February 16 last year, Nabi Karim residents Sumit and Suresh injured Manoj with a knife and then threw him from the roof of their house and fled from the site.
The victim was taken to hospital and the weapon of crime was recovered on the disclosure of Sumit, it said.
Manoj, however, resiled from his statement in the court saying that he was under the influence of liquor and slipped from the roof top on his own and they were not involved in it.
He also stated that he could not identify any weapon and said that police officials had obtained his signatures on blank and printed papers.
Manoj's wife, Seema, who was also an eye witness, too changed her statement in the court and deposed on the same lines as her husband. She said that she had not seen anything happen.
The court, while acquitting the two men, relied on the deposition of Manoj and his wife and also noted that there was no other evidence to show that the knife could have been used in the offence.
