19 May,2025 07:41 PM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
The additional sessions judge acquitted all the accused after considering the evidence and testimonies of the witnesses presented by the prosecution. Representational pic
The Karkardooma Court in the national capital recently acquitted 11 people in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots case, news agency ANI reported.
The acquittal comes after the court established that no credible evidence has been found against the accused. It also discarded the testimony of two police officers who identified the accused in a video and noted that the 11 people were identified at a belated stage after their arrest and the filing of a charge sheet.
A first information report (FIR) in the case was filed at the Gokal Puri Police Station.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pulastya Pramachala acquitted all the accused after considering the evidence and testimonies of the witnesses presented by the prosecution.
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"In view of my foregoing discussions, observations and findings, I find that charges levelled against the accused persons in this case are not proved beyond all reasonable doubts and accused are entitled for benefit of doubt. Hence, all accused Ankit Chaudhary alias Fauzi, Sumit alias Badshah, Pappu, Vijay, Ashish Kumar, Sourabh Kaushik, Bhupender, Shakti Singh, Sachin Kumar alias Rancho, Rahul and Yogesh, are acquitted of the charges levelled against them," the ASJ held on May 14.
The court further noted that the two officers who identified the accused claimed to know them prior to the 2020 Delhi riots.
"However, both these officials were posted in the same police station, despite that their statement regarding identifying the accused persons, was recorded at much belated time," the court stated, adding, "Moreover, if these accused persons were already known to these two police officials, then there could not have been any need to identify them in any video or photographs."
In its judgment, the court also observed, "It is worth to note here that by the time Investigation Officer (IO) recorded statement of these two police officials, all accused were already arrested and chargesheeted in this case. Therefore, their identification of accused persons, at such belated time, is not beyond controversy and doubt."
On March 3, 2020, an FIR was registered at PS Gokalpuri pursuant to the receipt of a written complaint filed by a person named Mohammad Imran Sheikh. The complainant alleged that medicines were stocked in the first and second floors of his shop. Around 1.30 am, an employee of a salon situated opposite to his medical shop, had called him to inform that some persons had looted his shop and were setting it ablaze. Immediately thereafter, Sheikh alerted the police about it.
Another complaint was filed by Akram Ali, who was running a barber shop in the same area along with his brother Aslam.
He alleged that on February 2, 2020, around 6 pm, several people gathered and vandalised his shop. Thereafter, the two brothers left Delhi and went to their hometown to save their lives. Aslam returned on February 28 and informed his brother that the shop had been vandalised.
(With ANI inputs)
