Complainant U-turn leads to gang’s acquittal

Gurgaon: Four suspected members of a lift-and-loot gang were acquitted on Monday after the complainant turned hostile in court.
Additional sessions judge Jasbir Singh gave the gang members — who were out on bail — the benefit of doubt after the prosecution failed to produce any substantial evidence to connect them with the crime.
Karan Malhotra, the complainant, had alleged that on November 27, 2018, he was waiting for a public transport on the Delhi-Gurgaon highway when a Swift with four men inside it stopped by and the driver offered a lift.
After Malhotra got inside the car, it took a U-turn near the Rajokeri flyover and the person sitting beside him in the rear seat whipped out a gun. Another pulled out a knife and allegedly asked Malhotra for his debit card and its PIN. They withdrew Rs 30,000 from two cards and snatched his phone, before pushing him out of the car in an isolated area.
A case was registered at Sector 17/18 police station under sections 379B (snatching with weapon), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention) of the IPC and provisions of the Arms Act. In court, however, Malhotra claimed that the four were not involved in the robbery. He also denied that any money was withdrawn using his cards.