December 20,2018:
Supreme Court has acquitted one Wasif Haider of murder charge after finding glaring discrepancies in police story about a bullet.
A bullet killed a man, but recovery of a bullet from ashes after cremation of the deceased saved another from serving a life term in the prison.
Police chargesheet against Haider had relied on Post-mortem Report which stated that there were two bullet wounds on deceased’s body, one caused by entry of bullet and the other by its exit.
However, when body was cremated, a bullet was recovered from ashes, casting serious doubt on Police version of events.
Apex Court Bench comprising of Justice N V Ramana and Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar stated that, “It is surprising that post-mortem report describes that there were two wounds in the body of the deceased, one being the entry and other being an exit wound. But allegedly, a bullet was recovered from ashes of the deceased".
Bench further stated that,“Forensic Laboratory Report shows that this bullet was charred and blistered. This recovery... is irreconcilable with post-mortem report which states an exit wound, implying that bullet had left the body. Aforesaid fact raises a suspicion on both post-mortem report and Forensic Laboratory Report as they are incompatible with each other.”
Supreme Court Bench added that,"Bullet that was recovered from ashes could not be proved to have been fired from pistol allegedly recovered from Haider".
Justice Ramana stated that,“Even recovery of pistol is doubtful. While prosecution case reveals that one .38 bore Colt pistol was recovered from the possession of Haider, evidence of police officer Rajendra Dhar Dwivedi reveals that a .32 bore Colt pistol was recovered pursuant to his arrest. Police also contradicted itself by claiming that two pistols of .38 bore were recovered from Haider”.
Trial Court had convicted Haider of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
But Allahabad High Court acquitted him, which was challenged in Supreme Court by State Government.
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