New Delhi: A court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering a jalebi vendor in 2014 following a dispute over his demand to be served ahead of other customers. It held that the prosecution had conclusively established his guilt through eyewitness testimony and ballistic evidence.Additional sessions judge Dhirendra Rana observed that the convict had “entered into a quarrel with the deceased as he wanted that jalebis would be given to him prior to other customers, who were standing in the queue”. When the vendor near Bangla Sahib Gurudwara refused, the man slapped him, pulled out a pistol and fired “a gunshot from a close range on the head of the deceased”.According to the prosecution, the vendor died at hospital during treatment. The accused was arrested near the spot, and a fake arms licence was found on him. He was charged under various sections of IPC and Arms Act.Although the defence first contended that the firing was unintentional and then that the bullet wasn’t fired from the accused’s improvised pistol, the court rejected both arguments, citing the ballistic report.Referring to the witnesses’ submission, the court said, “They unequivocally deposed about the incident and the manner in which accused had killed the deceased.” It added, “How many customers were there in the queue for jalebis has no bearing to the outcome of this case.”The court also held that the forensics report conclusively established that the bullet recovered from the deceased and the cartridge found at the scene were fired from the accused’s improvised pistol. Consequently, the “absence of precise distance by which the gunshot was fired carries no significance in this case”, it emphasised.The court rejected the defence contention that the accused had no prior enmity with the deceased and, therefore, lacked the intention to commit murder. Taking note of mitigating factors, including the prolonged trial since 2014 and the convict’s family comprising his wife and two sons, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment under Section 302 of IPC.
