A Delhi court has convicted a man for shooting dead a waiter at an engagement ceremony in west Delhi’s Nangloi in 2016.
Accused Dharmender admitted in his disclosure statement that he had shot at the waiter in a fit of anger as the latter refused to bring him a plate. However, the prosecution failed to prove it as the motive of the crime.
There were four eyewitnesses to the incident but all of them, including the complainant in the case, turned hostile during the trial.
The police had lodged an FIR in the matter based on the statement of one of the eyewitnesses who had made catering arrangements at the engagement party.
The eyewitness said that Dharmender was having a weapon in his hand and was firing in the air. He said the accused also fired at the waiter who was washing dishes, after which the waiter collapsed on the spot. The injured waiter was immediately rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries five days later, on the intervening night of December 6 and 7, 2016.
During the trial, however, the accused said in his statement that he had been implicated in the case.
Holding the accused guilty on the basis of circumstantial evidence, Additional Sessions Judge (West) at the Tis Hazari courts, Kuldeep Narayan said: “Taking the facts and circumstances into consideration, in my considered opinion, the prosecution successfully established that it was the accused, and the accused only who can be held responsible for committing murder of the deceased.”
“All the facts and circumstances established by the prosecution are consistent with the hypothesis of the guilt showing that in all probability, the murder of the deceased was committed by the accused. All the circumstances collectively lead to the irresistible conclusion that the accused alone is perpetrator of the crime. The accused is accordingly held guilty for commission of the offence under Section 302 of the IPC,” Mr. Narayan said.
“It is also clear that the accused had used the pistol to fire upon the deceased at the engagement ceremony at Community Centre, Nangloi, Delhi, without holding any licence in this regard in contravention of Section 5 of the Arms Act. The accused is accordingly held guilty for the offence punishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act,” Mr. Narayan also said.