Court acquits 3 accused of banker’s murder

Lucknow: A Rae Bareli court has acquitted all three accused in the 2022 murder case of a bank officer, citing serious lapses and negligence in the police investigation. The judgment was delivered by Special Judge (EC Act) and IV additional sessions judge Amit Kumar Pandey on Friday.The case pertains to the murder of Jai Prakash Pal, a resident of Kanpur, who was assistant manager at the Bank of Baroda's Deeh branch in Rae Bareli. He was shot dead on the night of Jan 11, 2022, in the Mill Area where he lived in a rented accommodation.The victim's wife, Aarti Pal, had lodged an FIR against unidentified persons after being informed by the landlord that her husband was found dead inside a car parked near a warehouse. Police later named three accused: Lok Janshakti Party district president Nagina Singh, Akash Singh alias Sunny, and Dayaram Pasi. According to the prosecution, the murder was allegedly orchestrated over a financial dispute involving Rs 25 lakh, which the victim reportedly paid to Nagina Singh for a land deal. Police claimed that Singh got the banker killed when he started mounting pressure to execute the property transfer.However, during the trial, the court found that the prosecution failed to substantiate these claims with credible evidence. The judge observed that no witness testified to seeing any monetary transaction between the victim and the accused. The alleged mobile phone conversations presented by police were deemed insufficient to establish guilt.The court also pointed out that the police failed to recover any portion of the alleged Rs 25 lakh, weakening the financial motive theory. Further, no forensic or ballistic report was presented to confirm that the bullet recovered from the victim's body was fired from any weapon allegedly seized from the accused.The court held that the probe appeared to be based on informant inputs and conducted in a negligent manner. "Due to careless investigation and failure to establish evidentiary links, the benefit of doubt must go to the accused," the court said while acquitting them.