Rashid Paul
Srinagar, Feb 06: A trial court today acquitted “for lack of evidence” a son charged by police some ten years ago for murdering his businessman father at Samander Bagh, Exchange Road, Srinagar.
According to the charge-sheet filed by police in the court on December 04, 2007, Nazir Mahajan, a known businessman, was “murdered by his 22-year-old son Zubair Mahajan at his shop in KohnaKhan Dalgate on 24th of September 2007.”
“The accused in connivance with his friend, Suhail Ahmad, an auto-driver of Rajouri Kadal, had attacked the deceased from behind with a hammer in his shop, kept his dead body in a gunny bag and dumped it near Income Tax Department office at Rajbagh,” said the charge-sheet.
Subsequently, “Zubair even accompanied his family members when they went to lodge a missing report in police station Khanyar,” it added.
The mobile phone details and tyre marks at the site of the dumping had led to the arrest of the accused.
1st Additional Sessions Judge, Naseer Ahmad Dar, in his 118 page judgment today concluded “prosecution case fails for want of cogent and clinching evidence against the accused persons and consequently prosecution has failed to prove the charges against the accused persons, resultantly the point for determination is decided in negative and the charge-sheet against the accused persons is dismissed.”
“Accordingly, both accused persons are acquitted from the charges leveled against them under sections 302, 120-B, 201, 468, 471, 420 of RPC They are set at liberty in the open court, if they are not required by the police or any other agency in any other case,” ordered the judge.
“Seized property, if any shall be disposed off in accordance with law after the period of appeal is over. The challan is accordingly disposed off and be consigned to records after compilation,” he ordered further.
“The burden to prove a case/charge against the accused always lies upon the prosecution and it is well settled law that the prosecution cannot take the benefit of the weaknesses of the defence and they have to stand on their own legs and are legally bound to prove its case by producing strong evidence which leaves no room of doubt in finding the accused guilty and the burden to prove the case cannot shift upon the defence,” observed the judge.
