Extending the benefit of doubt, Additional Sessions Judge Raj Paul Singh Teji acquitted North West Delhi residents Rajender, Ravinder, Prem Kumar and Rajeev Kumar of the charges of robbing bus passengers and grievously hurting them.
"The witness has made lot of improvements to his earlier statement made to the police and hence it would not be safe to place reliance on the testimony.
"I am of the view that the case of the prosecution is not free from doubt and hence the accused are entitled to benefit of doubt. Consequently, all the accused are acquitted of the offence charged," the judge said.
According to the prosecution, the four accused had boarded a bus at Mongol Puri here on February 12, 2005 and robbed the passengers by attacking them with dangerous weapons.
The police had said that on receiving a tip-off, it had arrested all the four accused on February 15, 2005 and also recovered stolen articles from them.
During the trial, eye witness Shivcharan, a bus passenger, had described the scene of the incident to the court and said the accused had robbed him of Rs 5,000.
The police had claimed they had recovered the stolen articles from them in the presence of Shivcharan.
The accused, on the other hand, had submitted they were innocent and had been falsely implicated in the case.
The court acquitted the accused observing that the testimony of Shivcharan could not be relied upon as there were discrepancies in his statements. (More)
