Euro School shooting: Gun owner jailed

GURGAON: Over three years after the shooting case in Euro International School in Gurgaon in which two Class VIII students had shot one of their classmates dead inside the campus, a city court awarded five years' imprisonment to the owner of the revolver that was used in the crime.
Pronouncing the judgment on Tuesday additional sessions judge Vimal Kumar held Raj Singh Dalal, an ex-employee of Dakshini Haryan Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), guilty for failing to keep his weapon in safe custody.The two accused had used Dalal's .32 revolver of US-make in the crime on December 11, 2007 and had murdered their classmate, 14-year-old Abhishek Tyagi.
They had shot Tyagi after they had a tiff with him a few days before the crime was committed. "However, we had pleaded before the court that Singh had no role to play in the entire sequence of events and that he was out of the city when it took place," said V P Mangla, the lawyer fighting the convict's case.
When the crime took place, Dalal, a wrestler, was reportedly participating in a sporting competition. Mangla added that Dalal had kept the weapon with Azad Singh, father of one of the accused, and he did not know how the firearm had reached the accused students. "The youngsters stole the weapon from Azad's custody and Raj Singh was unaware of any of it," the advocate said.
However, the court found Singh guilty under section 27 of the Arms Act. On the other hand, it acquitted Azad Singh for lack of evidence. During investigation Gurgaon police had found that Dalal and Azad were good friends. There were also allegations that Azad was seen teaching his son how to use the weapon. Police had then also said that in case the weapon was stolen from Azad's place, both he and Dalal were equally responsible for the serious lapse. Both the juvenile accused - one from Delhi and another from Haryana - are out on bail after they were kept at a juvenile observation home in Faridabad. The case is still on in the juvenile court.
Now the father of the victim, Abhishek Tyagi, has sought police protection claiming that he was facing a threat for pursuing the case. "I have lost my son and still believe that it was a conspiracy. Now I want the police to protect my life since I am fighting the legal battle," RavinderTyagi, the aggrieved father, said.