Delhi court acquits man of attempted murder charge in 2021 case

New Delhi: A court here has acquitted a man in a 2021 attempt to murder case, saying that in cases based on circumstantial evidence and evidence, the circumstances from which guilt is inferred must be fully proven.

The court found that the three eyewitnesses, including the injured victim, did not identify the defendant as the assailant who fired the shots and stated that the defendant's guilt had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Additional Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Pandey was hearing the case against Chandan Kashyap alias Nimboo, who along with his minor accomplice was accused of shooting and seriously injuring Sanjeev in Dakshinpuri in south Delhi on January 27, 2021.

In an order passed on September 19, the court took note of the victim's statement that the youth had shot at him and his denial of the accused's presence at the crime scene. It also observed that the two eyewitnesses did not support the prosecution's arguments regarding the identification of Kashyap.

It was said that the prosecution had failed to present incriminating evidence against the defendant.

“In cases based on circumstantial evidence and visual evidence, the circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is drawn must be fully established and those circumstances must be conclusive,” the court observed. “Moreover, all the circumstances must be complete and form a chain and there must be no gaps in the chain of evidence. The various circumstances in the chain of events must be such that the innocence of the accused can be excluded with sufficient probability,” the court said.

The court acquitted Kashyap, saying his guilt had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.