By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Tuesday upheld a trial court’s order of life imprisonment for two men convicted for the killing of a police subinspector eight years ago.
A division bench comprising Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Indermeet Kaur held Ghanshyam and Kishore guilty of gunning down subinspector Vinod Kumar, who was posted at the Civil Lines police station at the time of the incident Jan 1, 2001.
The court, while upholding the order of life imprisonment, relied on the testimony of other police officials who were at the spot at the time of the killing.
“In appreciating the evidence of an eye witness, the approach of the court is to see whether the evidence of the witness as a whole is reliable and has a ring of truth in it. Even honest and truthful witnesses may differ in some details unrelated to the main incident because power of observation, retention and reproduction differ with individuals,” the court said.
The case dates back to Jan 1, 2001, when a police patrol comprising subinspector Vinod Kumar found a Maruti car under suspicious circumstances.
According to prosecution, as soon as the police team inquired, the occupants of the car started running. Police chased them and apprehended Ghanshyam, who then shot Vinod Kumar and fled the spot. Police, however, managed to catch his accomplice Kishore.
A few days later, police caught Ghanshyam as well from Garh road in Hapur and recovered the gun and the cartridges from the spot where he had shot the police official.
However, the defence contented that witnesses were planted against the accused as the case involved police officials.
The court, while rejecting Kishore’s plea that he did not kill the police officer and so should be shown some leniency, said: “In our view Ghanshyam and Kishore were joint criminals, directly liable equally for their joint crime.”