Gurugram: Witness dies of Covid, man on murder trial acquitted

GURUGRAM: A man on trial in a murder case was acquitted by a local court this week because the only eyewitness, on whose account the prosecution's case was built, died of Covid before he had the opportunity to testify.
Since the prosecution had no other evidence connecting the accused, Om Prakash, to the murder spot, with the investigation throwing up glaring forensic omissions, the court found that the charges had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt, observing in its ruling that "suspicion, however grave, cannot take the place of proof".
Deceased & accused fought over Rs 2.5k loan
On August 26, 2020, a man's body was found in front of a pharmacy at Mahavir Chowk. He was identified as Bablu, a fruit seller. Gaurav, his friend, told police Bablu and a few other fruit sellers used to sleep on the footpath in front of the pharmacy. One of them was Om Prakash, who had allegedly borrowed a sum of Rs 2,500 from the group in March 2020 - when the first national lockdown was imposed because of the pandemic - to go to Ludhiana, his hometown. He returned to the city in August.
On August 23, Bablu, Gaurav and Om Prakash had a heated argument over repayment of the money. Bablu allegedly slapped Om Prakash, who picked up a brick to hit him, but others intervened and pacified them. Three days later, Bablu was found dead. "Om Prakash had threatened to kill us. He murdered Bablu with a brick," Gaurav said in his statement to police.
An FIR was registered under sections 302 (murder), 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC at Sector 14 police station and Om Prakash was arrested the same day. Police recovered a blood-stained shirt from the nearby Gaushala ground as well as a blood-stained brick.
Police found the sole eyewitness to the murder was another fruit seller in his mid-30s who used to sleep on the same footpath. He told police Om Prakash had attacked both Bablu and him with a brick. After recording his statement, he went to his hometown in Bihar. He died of Covid in 2021.
When the court issued summons to him, the notice was returned unserved with the report that he had died. His name was dropped on February 25 this year. Defence counsel Abhimanyu argued there was no other eyewitness and the blood-stained shirt was recovered from a public place, not from Om Prakash. On September 8, additional sessions judge Ved Prakash Sirohi said the court had found no substance in any of the contentions of the prosecution.