Noida: Five persons who spent a decade in jail on charges of murder were freed on Saturday after a local court said police could not establish the identity of the perpetrators of the crime or how the murder was committed.The matter is linked to an FIR registered by a local resident, Palwinder, against unknown persons on June 5, 2016. He claimed his brother-in-law Balwinder was intercepted by the assailants on June 1 while he was on his way to Noida from Bulandshahr. The attackers looted around Rs 22,000 from his vehicle and shot him from close range. He died of the injuries sustained during the attack while being treated, Palwinder said.Police arrested the five accused based on their probe.However, the district and sessions court found gross lapses in the investigation as no Test Identification (TI) parade was conducted where a witness could confirm that the five accused were indeed the killers. In addition, the medical report also could not confirm that the death was due to a firearm injury — an allegation levelled by police.The court on Saturday ordered the immediate release of all five from jail, acquitting them of the charges of murder and criminal conspiracy levelled against them by the police. “Under these circumstances Shariq alias Goli, Sajid alias Mithun, and Mahfooz alias Munna charged for offence of murder u/s 302 IPC and Moin alias Titir and Taiyyab charged for offence of murder with common intent u/s 302/34 IPC and criminal conspiracy u/s 120B IPC deserve the benefit of doubt and acquittal from the charges levelled against them,” the court ruled.Police said Palwinder had mentioned in the FIR that when his brother-in-law was shot dead, the cleaner of the vehicle, Vikki, was also present at the scene and had seen the assailants commit the crime. However, during cross-examination he admitted he did not mention the presence of Vikki.In his statement, Vikki also said he could not identify the accused.Analysing the statement of Rajesh Kumar, who conducted the post-mortem examination, the court observed the doctor said that when he received the body, the abdomen was torn. There were 26 stitches on the body but no firearm injuries, his autopsy report stated. “He could not explain what caused the internal abdominal injuries. The body was brought to him after the operation. The deceased died from septic shock and a blood infection,” the judge noted, adding that satisfactory medical evidence in support of the prosecution could not be collected.This adversely affected the prosecution’s case and ultimately led to the accused’s acquittal.
