A Delhi court while granting bail to a murder accused slammed a Delhi Police inspector for attempting to “mislead” it by filing false replies, investigating the case in a “highly unprofessional manner”, and delaying the matter.
The court also directed that a copy of the order be sent to Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora.
Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Kumar Sharma was hearing the bail plea of Rajesh, who was in jail since November 2018, in a case of murder, destruction of evidence, and unlawful assembly.
The judge while granting bail to the accused observed, “The investigation in the present case seems to have been conducted in a highly unprofessional manner by investigating officer/inspector Jagtar Singh.”
“Multiple attempts have been made to delay the disposal of the present bail application by filing misleading replies and seeking multiple adjournments,” he added.
The court noted that Rajesh was arrested based on a disclosure statement of a co-accused with whom he allegedly dumped the body of the deceased in Punjabi Bagh.
Deprecating Singh’s conduct, the judge said he “tried to mislead this court by filing false replies on the aspect of identity and visibility of the applicant (Rajesh) in the CCTV footage along with the co-accused at the time of dumping the dead body.”
“A copy of this order be sent to the Commissioner of Police, Delhi for information,” he added.
In an order passed on December 9, the court said the disclosure statement of the co-accused was “inadmissible,” and the only incriminating evidence was a mobile phone recovered from Rajesh, whose call location was used by the IO to show his presence at the spot of the crime and at the place where the body was dumped.
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Highlighting that the mobile phone number was issued in the name of the accused’s brother, the court said except for Singh’s “bald statement” about Rajesh possessing the phone, there was no evidence to establish that the said mobile phone was used by him before or at the time of the alleged offence.
It said Singh filed a false reply to the bail plea in September this year, saying Rajesh and a co-accused were caught dumping the body on a CCTV camera, following which they were arrested.
Later, a reply was filed by an assistant commissioner of police, according to which Rajesh’s arrest was made on the co-accused’s disclosure statement, the court said.
“This goes to reflect that a deliberate attempt has been made by the IO to mislead this court,” the judge said.
