Judge slams cops

Rahul Chhabra / TNN / Mar 27, 2007, 00:24 IST

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Delhi Police is under the scanner for botching up the investigations in the zoo murder case.

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police is under the scanner for botching up the investigations in the zoo murder case. Acquitting the accused, Nikhil Chaudhary, on Saturday of the charge of killing his friend, Kanchan, three years ago, additional sessions judge Ravinder Kaur slammed the investigating officer.
In her 79-page order, the judge rapped IO Sehdev Singh for lax investigation and hinted towards the possibility of the evidence having been tampered with.
A key prosecution witness, former zoo director B S Bonal, was declared hostile by the prosecution. His testimony in the court damaged the case against the accused by creating doubts about the recovery of the weapon of murder — a razor — at the instance of the accused. The fingerprints of the accused could also not be verified on the weapon of offence.
"The prosecution has failed to prove the complete chain of circumstances against the accused," said Kaur, giving the accused benefit of doubt.

ASJ Kaur minced no words in criticising the IO's sloppy work. She hit out at him for not bringing in a key person — zoo parking lot attendant — as witness and also for not even bothering to recover Nikhil's bike on which he had allegedly come to the zoo on the day of the murder.
The prosecution had alleged that Nikhil slit his friend and neighbour Kanchan's throat on July 17, 2004, at the zoo as he was jealous because she had talked to another man. Nikhil suspected she would marry someone else.

Additional public prosecutor Devender Kumar said recovery of the razor from the zoo at Nikhil's instance was their strongest point to prove his guilt. "I am yet to go through the judgment. Only after seeing it will I be able to make my report for filing an appeal against the acquittal," he said.
"We could only rely on the evidence produced in court...I took up the case only in the final stages," he said, refusing to take the blame for the outcome.
Blood-free razor reached forensic lab: The prosecution claimed that there was blood on both sides of the blade of the razor recovered from the zoo at Nikhil's instance. The CFSL report, where the weapon was sent for examination, said human blood was not detected on the razor.
No last seen evidence: "There is no evidence led by the prosecution on record that the deceased was seen last in the company of the accused so as to raise presumption against him that it is he who must have killed her," said the court.
"Even the motorcycle belonging to the accused was not seized by the police nor shown to the attendants of the parking... nor they were
made to identify the accused that he had parked the motorcycle (DL 6S Q 6765) in the parking on that day," said ASJ Kaur.
The parking slip and its counterfoil on the basis of which the prosecution tried to link Nikhil with the crime and also to prove his presence on the murder day could also not be proved on record.
Ex-zoo director declared hostile witness: The court noted that former zoo director B S Bonal stated to the police that while in custody he led the police party to show the site near the Bengal tiger cage from where the razor was recovered. In court it was a different story. "This witness has nowhere stated that the razor was recovered at the instance of the accused. No doubt, this witness was declared hostile by the prosecution," said the court.
Doubts over spot from where razor was recovered: The IO allegedly played a dubious role in court by volunteering during cross-examination to suggest that the razor was recovered by the accused from near the cage of Blue Bull (Neelgai) cage. This cage is about 41 metres away from the Bengal Tiger cage.
This is contrary to the statements made by Bonal, sub-inspector Satbir Singh and zoo security incharge Ravinder Kumar that it was found near the tiger cage.
Also, a site plan made by SI Mahesh Kumar, draftsman from the crime branch, at the request of IO Sehdev Singh showed the razor was recovered from near the tiger cage.
rahul.chhabra@timesgroup.com

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