Victim's brother turns hostile; Delhi court acquits four alleged killers

A Delhi court today acquitted four persons of the charge of stabbing to death a man following a dispute over money two years ago, saying the brother of the victim, the sole eye witness, took a U-turn by not supporting the case.

"Raju (the complainant) was the only witness who could have proved the commission of the crime by the accused but he turned hostile ... therefore, prosecution has failed to prove the case," Additional sessions Judge Poonam A Bamba said.

The court gave the benefit of doubt to accused Karim Khan, Rohit, Amit and Ramesh, all hailing from the national capital.

The complainant, an eyewitness whose brother Lala was stabbed to death allegedly by the accused on the intervening night of June 27-28, 2008, even denied lodging a complaint with police, the court said in its judgement.

"He (Raju) deposed that he was sleeping inside the house at the time of incident. He heard the noise made by his neighbours and on coming out, he saw that the accused had run away. He did not see who attacked his brother," it said.

However, Raju had told the police that it was the accused who had come to his house in a car on that night and hit his brother by sticks before stabbing him to death.

During the trial, the key witness, though identified his signature on the complaint, said police made him to sign on a blank paper, the court said.

The victim, who had financial dispute with Karim Khan, one of the four accused, had a verbal duel with him on the evening of June 27, police had said. Khan and the other three accused came back in the wee hours on the same night in a car and stabbed the victim.

The victim later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital here. The prosecution examined eight witnesses but the accused were acquitted after the key eyewitness turned hostile.