In Dehradun, 2 cops acquitted of culpable homicide in celebratory firing

DEHRADUN: Citing lack of evidence, an additional sessions judge court acquitted two constables - Monu Kumar and Amit Kumar - of charges under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC after their two colleagues, who were the key witnesses in the case, turned hostile in a celebratory firing incident which took place in Suddhowala area under Prem Nagar police station limits. The incident dates back to 2016 when Monu's cousin - Rajkumar (20), a resident of UP's Moradabad - suffered bullet injury and died after "an unidentified person" reportedly opened fire from Amit's service pistol during Monu's wedding. The weapon was seized after the incident but no cartridge was found from the spot. Thereafter, the two constables were arrested. On getting the information, the then superintendent of police (city) Ajay Singh reached the spot to take stock of the situation. An FIR was registered against an unidentified person on the complaint of Tullan Singh, uncle of constable Monu Kumar. During the investigation, Kumar's two colleagues Lalit Kumar and Vipin Rana recorded their statements that constable Amit Kumar was giving his pistol to Monu Kumar when the trigger was pressed. However, both the eyewitnesses turned hostile during the hearing and said that they "couldn't see the man who fired the shot as they were dancing at that time". During the trial, the prosecution failed to produce videography of the marriage function to establish who fired the bullet claiming an innocent's life. On Friday, after hearing arguments of the prosecution and defence counsel, the court observed that the circumstantial evidence produced by the prosecution does not lend credibility to the prosecution's story. "The charges levelled against both the accused have not been proved," the court said. Both the accused are currently out on bail.