Delhi court acquits five men accused in 2018 bank dacoity-cum-murder case

A Delhi court has acquitted five men accused in a 2018 dacoity-cum-murder case at a Corporation Bank branch, saying the prosecution failed to establish their involvement beyond a reasonable doubt after key eyewitnesses and bank staff failed to identify them during the trial.

Additional Sessions Judge Sumit Dass was hearing the case against Sachin (son of Satpal), Sachin (son of Inderjeet), Vicky alias Pushkar, Parvesh and Pawan Pandey, who were accused of looting the branch at Kheda Dabar in south-west Delhi and killing its cashier in 2018.

In the order dated May 19, the court said, ''The accused persons in the present case have been able to create doubt upon the story of the prosecution, for which benefit has to be given to them. Accordingly, the accused are entitled to the benefit of doubt.''.

According to the prosecution, the accused were involved in the incident at Corporation Bank's Kheda Dabar branch on October 12, 2018, where armed men allegedly stormed the bank, snatched the security guard's weapon, looted around Rs 3 lakh and opened fire, killing cashier Santosh Kumar. Witnesses said the assailants fled on motorcycles after the robbery.

An FIR was registered at the Chhawla police station under charges including dacoity, murder and offences under the Arms Act.

During the trial, several bank officials, customers and the security guard confirmed that a dacoity and killing had taken place. However, they told the court that they could not identify the perpetrators as the attackers had covered their faces with helmets and cloth masks.

''To prove the prosecution's case, the testimony of the prosecution witnesses must be reliable. It is not the quantity but the quality of the testimony that helps a court in concluding any case,'' the court said.

It noted that the prosecution witnesses did not support the case on the crucial aspect of identification despite claims made during the investigation.

''None of the witnesses identified any of the accused to be involved in the commission of dacoity and murder in the bank,'' the court observed.

The prosecution had argued that recoveries of motorcycles, pistols, cash and clothes, along with CCTV camera footage and disclosure statements, linked the accused to the crime.

The defence, however, alleged false implication and pointed to alleged lapses in the investigation, including the absence of public witnesses during recoveries and failure to connect the recovered cash with the looted money.

Finding the evidence insufficient and observing that the central link connecting the accused to the crime remained unproven, the court extended the benefit of doubt and acquitted all five accused.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)