Ghaziabad: A man was awarded a life term in a murder case, while two accomplices were let off. The duo had taken the victim to the hospital, where the victim succumbed to his injuries two years ago.On Wednesday, a city court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Gaurav — declaring him guilty of the murder of his friend Momin — while acquitting the accomplices — Raju and Ankit — after being convinced that the duo, accused of conspiracy with the assailant, were in fact simple onlookers.Additional district and sessions judge Manish Nigam said “it becomes clear” that Gaurav killed Momin by striking him on the head with an axe.“The court is of the opinion that the ends of justice will be served by sentencing the convicted offender to a life term in prison with a fine of Rs 25,000 while the accused, Raju and Ankit, are acquitted of the charges. They are directed to submit a personal bond of Rs 25,000 and two sureties of the same amount in compliance with Section 437A of the CrPC,” the judge ordered.Two years ago, an FIR was registered by Linkroad police station based on a written complaint of Naushad, Momin’s brother and a resident of Prahladgarhi.Police filed a chargesheet against the trio on May 31 the same year and the sessions court framed charges on Oct 10. All three accused denied the charges and sought to be tried.On Wednesday, the judge noted, “The plaintiff (complainant) said Raju and Ankit were accused based on a video clip. However, the video does not clearly state whether the accused shouted ‘kill him’ or not. The plaintiff’s statement also states that the deceased had an altercation with accused Gaurav over interest payments. However, no witness has provided any statement regarding the grudge that accused Ankit and Raju had against the deceased. The prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that on the said date, time, and place of the incident, the accused, Ankit and Raju, assisted in the incident or incited the assailant to kill the deceased.”In the FIR, the complainant had alleged that his elder brother Momin (22) used to work at a tea stall in Sabji Mandi, Sahibabad. He had an altercation with his friend, Gaurav, a resident of Jhandapur village, some time ago.On the night of April 2, 2024, after finishing his work, when his elder brother went to sleep at his makeshift vendor outlet in Sabji Mandi, Gaurav went to him and started attacking him with an iron rod without any reason.As a result, his brother sustained severe injuries on various parts of his body. Naushad claimed that the entire incident was witnessed by his brother’s two other friends, Raju and Ankit. Momin was admitted to Atlantica Hospital, Vasundhara, where he died.Based on the complaint, police registered the FIR on April 3 under Section 302/34 of the IPC against Gaurav and arrested him. In the course of the investigation and on the basis of the statement of the plaintiff given to police under Section 161 of the CrPC, police included the names of Raju and Ankit as co-accused.The prosecution presented 10 witnesses, including parents of the victim and an eyewitness. They also presented a video clip recorded at the time of the assault and the autopsy report besides the iron rod used as the murder weapon, recovered from the home of one of the accused.Appearing as PW1, the plaintiff told the court that a day after the incident, the video clip was in circulation on social media in which he could see Gaurav assaulting his brother while Ankit and Raju could be seen standing there and someone was shouting and inciting the attacker to kill his brother. Convinced that it was Raju and Ankit who incited Gaurav to attack, he included their names as assailants in his statement given to police.The defence lawyer questioned the authenticity of the video clip and also challenged the prosecution for not getting a forensic voice-matching test of the audio clip. The defence also questioned the authenticity of the murder weapon as it was not recovered from the place of crime or in the presence of any neutral witness.Referring to the nature of wounds as described in the autopsy report, the court said that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the recovered murder weapon, an iron axe, was used by accused Gaurav to inflict injuries on the deceased and cause his death. He was admitted to the hospital by Ankit and Raju.
