Gurgaon: Five people, accused of abetting the suicide of a man five years ago, were let off after the prosecution failed to establish the crucial link between alleged harassment and his decision to end his life.A sessions court on Thursday acquitted the accused, holding that there was no cogent evidence to show that they had instigated, conspired or intentionally aided Shamsher Singh — a resident of the city’s Carterpuri area — to commit suicide. Proceedings against accused Vikram alias Vicky were dropped after his death during the trial in March 2026.Shamsher was found dead at a vacant plot on the intervening night of Aug 4-5, 2020. The case hinged largely on an audio message allegedly sent by Shamsher shortly before his death, in which he named people he held responsible. But the court found several gaps in the handling and corroboration of the recording, as well as in the investigation of the alleged dispute.Additional sessions judge Dr Gagan Geet Kaur said the prosecution failed to establish the necessary mens rea — meaning guilty mind — for an offence under Section 306 of the IPC.While acquitting Sunita, Harkesh alias Laddu, Mukesh alias Bablu, Rajesh and Raj Kumar alias Raju of the charge under sections 306 and 34 of the IPC, the court also pointed out a contradiction in the earliest statements of the deceased’s family in which they denied any foul play and later filed a case of abetment.Shamsher’s wife, Manju, initially informed police, and inquest proceedings were conducted. According to the prosecution, on Aug 10, 2020, Manju learnt from Surender Singh, a family member, that Shamsher had sent him an audio recording.The recording allegedly named Vicky, Raju, Sunita, Rajesh, Mukesh and Laddu and alleged that they had earlier beaten and threatened Shamsher and were pressuring him over a dispute.An FIR was registered at Palam Vihar police station under sections 306 and 34 of the IPC.The trial court framed charges against the accused in Feb 2022 and the prosecution examined 18 witnesses.Public prosecutor JS Jangra, assisted by the complainant’s counsel Subhash Grover, argued that the witnesses corroborated one another and that the delay in the FIR was explainable because Manju learnt about the audio recording only later.Defence counsel NK Jain and Amit Jain argued there was no evidence that the accused had forced or compelled Shamsher to commit suicide.They also challenged the audio evidence, alleged delay in the FIR and contradictions in the prosecution witnesses’ testimony.The judge found that no transcription of the audio recording was placed on record or made part of the challan.More significantly, Surender told the court that although the audio was allegedly sent to him on Aug 4-5, he did not hear it until Aug 10 — after he learnt about Shamsher’s death.The court also noted that Shamsher’s mobile phone remained with the complainant from Aug 5 to Aug 10 and was taken into police possession only on Aug 10. The court said these circumstances created doubt about the prosecution story.The judge described the explanation that the officer was busy investigating other cases as “unprofessional”, observing that the nature and seriousness of the alleged dispute were important to determine whether it could have driven a person to suicide.The court stressed that proving suicide was not enough to sustain a Section 306 charge. The prosecution had to prove that the accused had instigated, conspired or intentionally aided the deceased and that their conduct had a direct and proximate connection with the suicide.
