Probe anomalies in chargesheets in NE riots case: Delhi court

NEW DELHI: A city court has directed the DCP concerned to make necessary inquiry about anomalies in chargesheets filed by police in a northeast Delhi riots case.
On August 6, the court noted that the accused were being tried on allegations related to incidents that allegedly took place on February 24, 2020. But on perusal of the statements recorded by the investigating officer (IO), it was found that he relied upon some witnesses’ statements made with respect to the incident on February 25, 2020.
It was further noted that the IO used his discretion to pick names of the accused from the statements of these witnesses to chargesheet them and leave one accused without giving any cogent reason.
“The net result of the aforesaid actions and omissions on the part of the IO and prosecution is that there has been simply wastage of the court’s time with no fruitful purpose being served by examining the prosecution witness. In the name of prosecution, it has been a mere eye wash,” said the court.
The court also imposed a cost of Rs 15,000 on the prosecution for “wasting the time of the court as well as time of the defence”, which was to be equally distributed among the accused persons. Police had moved an application on August 8, seeking waiver of the cost.
Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala said since the direction was to pay the cost to the accused, unless the accused were heard on this point, no order could be passed at this stage. Further hearings would be held on August 18.
Meanwhile, on August 8, police submitted a report stating that the IO had conducted investigations in various FIRs relating to incidents on February 24 and 25, 2020. Since police were engaged in multiple work, including restoring peace, law and order, the IO committed a human error. Police further submitted that a report on the conduct of the IO had been sent to the DCP (Northeast).