2020 Delhi riots: Court grants bail to man accused of killing head constable

A court here has granted bail to a man accused of being a part of the riotous mob that allegedly killed Delhi Police head constable Ratan Lal during the 2020 northeast Delhi riotsAdditional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala was hearing the bail plea of accused Shahid against whom along with other coaccused persons the city police had filed a chargesheet under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code including sections 302 murder and 149 every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common objectAccording to the prosecution a riotous mob attacked police at Chand Bagh near Peer Baba Dargah on February 24 2020 resulting in the death of Lal from a gunshot injury and serious injuries to the then Shahdara DCP Amit Sharma then ACP Gokalpuri Anuj Kumar and another head constable ChetrapalFor the purpose of bail keeping in view the evidence produced by the prosecution against him I find applicantto be entitled to the same and accordingly applicant Shahid is admitted to bail on his furnishing personal bond and surety bond of Rs 10000 each with one surety in the like amount ASJ Pramachala said in his order passed on TuesdayNoting the evidence the judge said Shahid was arrested by the Special Cell officials who recovered a service revolver and live cartridges at the accuseds instance and the said weapon was allegedly snatched from head constable ChetrapalAlso Read Im reduced to dust spare my family pleads gangsterpolitician Atiq AhmadThe judge further noted that the prosecution relied upon the statement of a witness who identified Shahid to be part of the riotous mob that had attacked police but no test identification parade TIP of Shahid was conducted through Chetrapal Prosecution has made allegations of snatching of the service pistol against the applicant on the basis of the presumption that since he had possession of that revolver therefore he would have snatched the same All such issues would be a matter of appreciation during further proceedings the judge saidDuring the proceedings the prosecution opposed the bail plea alleging the accused persons had killed Lal and tried to kill members of the police team including DCP Sharma ACP Kumar and head constable Chetrapal who received grievous injury on his headThe prosecution claimed Shahid did not cooperate with the investigating agency during his custodial interrogation and that the recovered revolver and cartridges were robbed from ChetrapalTill date 25 accused persons have been arrested in this case out of which only 17 accused persons are on bail In most of the cases the Delhi High Court has dismissed their bail applications the prosecution saidIt said three accused persons namely Suleman Siddiqui Ayaz Khan and Khalid have been declared proclaimed offenders and are yet to be arrested in the caseCounsel for Shahid argued that the applicant was falsely booked in the case and fake recovery of the weapon along with live cartridges has been shownThe other conditions of bail included the accused not leaving the country intimating the court about any change in address or other particulars and providing his mobile phone number besides not trying to influence any other witness the court saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever