Gurugram judge family shooting: Charges framed against personal security officer

The Gurugram district court on Wednesday framed charges against 32-year-old Mahipal Singh, who was arrested for allegedly shooting the wife and son of an additional sessions judge in broad daylight in Arcadia Market, Sector 49, on October 13, the police said Wednesday. Singh was the personal security officer attached to accused additional session judge Krishan Kant and was escorting his family at the time of the incident.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT), that was constituted to probe the matter, has stated that the accused committed the crime in a fit of rage and ruled out theories of harassment by the judge’s family, marital discord or any religious inclination, as was speculated initially. The police said that during interrogation, the accused had said he was treated well by the judge’s family.

The accused had initially accused Kant’s family of ill-treating him and denying him leave, which left him anguished.

The accused pleaded not guilty during the framing of charges on Wednesday. The trial in the case will begin on February 1.

After investigating the matter for three months, the SIT submitted its final investigation report before the court of Judicial Magistrate 1st Class (JMiC) Suyesha Jawa on December 26, holding Singh responsible for the double murder. The case was then referred to the sessions court.

District and sessions judge RK Sondhi kept the matter in his court and charges were framed against Singh under sections 302 (murder) and 201(destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act.

“The matter is set for trial from February 1,” public prosecutor Anurag Hooda said, adding that the court will now record statements of witnesses.

The police have listed 81 witnesses, including additional sessions judge Krishan Kant who is also the complainant.

In a statement made before the police, Kant had said he was in the court complex when he received a phone call from Singh on his cellphone stating he had shot his wife and son. “On this, I immediately informed my colleague and when one of my colleagues called my wife, some unknown person attended the call and informed that a lady and a boy have been brought to Park Hospital with gunshot injuries,” Kant had told the police in a statement recorded October 13.

According to the 500-page charge sheet, the investigators have relied on the dying declaration of the judge’s wife, a CCTV footage of the shooting, videos of the incident that were shared on social media, ballistic expert’s report, recoveries and eyewitness accounts.

Singh and his family have not engaged any lawyer as yet. He is being represented by a lawyer provided by the court through the legal aid service.

Sunil Kumar Sharma, who is representing the accused constable, said Singh has claimed he was not guilty. “We will prepare for the trial,” he said.

On October 13, head constable Mahipal Singh was escorting Kant’s wife Ritu, 38, and son Dhruv, 18, to Arcadia Market when he allegedly shot them with his service revolver. He shot Ritu twice in the chest and stomach and Dhruv thrice, once on the shoulder and twice in the head. As seen in a video of the incident, Singh then tried to put an injured Dhruv in the judge’s car. When he failed to lift the boy, he left him there and drove away. He was arrested two hours later from the Gurugram-Faridabad Road.

While Ritu had succumbed to her injuries on the same day, Dhruv died in a private hospital 10 days later. Kant, who was posted in Gurugram at the time of the incident, is currently posted in Ambala.

First Published: Jan 10, 2019 13:40 IST