Srinagar, Dec 30: The Principal and District Sessions Court has acquitted two accused in the murder case of a sleuth of Crime Investigation Department.
 The duo- Javid Ahmad Najar of Pathar Masjid and Zahoor Ahmad Kinna of Fateh Kadal- were charged with the killing of CID Constable Mushtaq Ahmad Pandith on February 24, 2007, in his house at Chan Mohalla Soura.
 Soura police arrested Javid and Zahoor in June 2007 and registered a case (FIR 32/2007) against them under Sections 302/34 RPC and 7/27, 7/25 Arms Act on the complaint of Shamshada Mushtaq, wife of the deceased.
 The public prosecution said on the day of killing, police recorded the statement in which the deceased’s wife had accused the two persons of killing her husband by using a Chinese pistol.
 To follow the legal procedure the Prosecution has to affirm the pre-recorded statement by police before the Judicial Magistrate under section 161 of RPC. However, in the cross-examination by Counsels Bilal Ahmad Wani, Hamid Shafi and Rafiq Joo, Shamshada turned hostile before the Judicial Magistrate and said that she had never given any statement against the two accused.
 The witness told the Court that killer was someone else, a person who used to visit their house before the killing.
 Counsels for the accused said the first statement of the witness was recorded after four days as against the police claim that it recorded the statement on the day of murder. They said the weapon used as claimed by the Police was not a Chinese pistol.
 The Principal and District Sessions Judge, Gous-ul-Nisa, pronounced the judgment after hearing final arguments from both sides. According to the verdict the prosecution has not been able to prove its case.
 There were also glaring contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witness including 15 hearsay witnesses making the case doubtful, it concluded. The Court after listening to the submissions of the counsels acquitted the two accused.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:00:00 IST