North East Delhi riots: Court acquits 12 accused of murder, rioting, promoting enmity

New Delhi [India], May 5 (ANI): Delhi's Karkardooma Court has recently acquitted 12 persons accused in a case of murder, rioting, promoting enmity among two communities destruction of evidence during the North East Delhi riots of 2020.
An FIR was registered at Gokul Puri police station in connection with the murder of one Hashim Ali, whose body, along with two others, was recovered from a drain in the area on February 27, 2020.
This case was primarily based on circumstantial evidence. However, the court said that evidence was not sufficient to point out that the accused were part of the culprit mob.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Pulastya Pramachala held, "In view of my foregoing discussions, observations and findings, I find that charges levelled against the accused persons in this case are not proved at all."

"Hence, all accused, namely Lokesh Kumar Solanki, Pankaj Sharma, Ankit Chaudhary, Prince, Jatin Sharma alias Rohit, Himanshu Thakur, Vivek Panchal alias Nandu, Rishabh Chaudhary alias Tapas, Sumit Chaudhary alias Badshah, Tinku Arora, Sandeep alias Mogli and Sahil alias Babu, are acquitted of all the charges," ASJ Pramachala ordered on April 30.
ASJ Pramachala observed, "I find that in the name of circumstantial evidence, there are some fragments and pieces of evidence which fall much short of pointing out any of the accused persons as members of the culprit mob."
As per the statements of eyewitnesses who stated that on 26.02.2020, nine accused were present at Bhagirathi Vihar Nala Pulia, carrying stones, cudgels, sticks, swords and iron rods, etc. and were shouting slogans like "Jai Sri Ram" and "Har Har Mahadev".
All the accused were leading the mob and giving directions to their associates by calling each other by their names. The accused persons are alleged to have been involved in the killing of nine muslim persons; after checking their identity, the witnesses stated.
Public witnesses also witnessed the incident of murder of Hashim Ali. They stated that a mob stopped two persons riding bikes, and after ascertaining their identity as muslims, the mob killed both the persons with stones, cudgels, sticks, swords and iron rods and threw their bodies in the Nala along with the bikes.
During the investigation, the mobile data of the phones of Mohit Sharma and Shivam Bhardwaj was analysed and it revealed that they were members of a WhatsApp group named "KATTAR HINDU EKTA".
Further investigation of this group was carried out, which revealed that it was created on 25.02.2020 to take revenge on the Muslim community.
As per the chats of the "KATTAR HINDUT EKTA" WhatsApp group, the accused persons already arrested in the present case, along with other rioters, had become active in the Ganga Vihar/Bhagirathi Vihar area, the police said.
They conspired to teach Muslims a lesson for attacking the Hindus, equipped themselves with lathis, danda, sticks, swords, firearms, etc. and killed many innocent persons, including Hashim Ali and his brother Aamir Khan, police alleged.
After the investigation, Delhi Police filed a charge sheet and four supplementary charge sheets. This case was investigated by SIT of the crime branch.
On 04.04.2022, the court framed charges against all 12 accused persons for offences punishable under Sections 144, 147, 148, 153a, 188, 302, 201, 427, 432, 435, 505, and 34 Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with Section 149 IPC, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
The place of the incident was not confirmed through witnesses.
"There is no evidence to confirm the place where the victim and his brother were intercepted," the court said. (ANI)