The Delhi High Court has summoned case records of the trial court of 'Outlook' cartoonist Irfan's murder in which the five accused have been acquitted.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has summoned case records of the trial court pertaining to the murder of 'Outlook' cartoonist Irfan in which the five accused have been acquitted due to lapses in the police investigation.
Justice Reva Khetrapal summoned the trial court records to be produced on May 24 for further hearing of the matter on a petition filed by Irfan's father seeking re-investigation of the case by an independent investigating agency.
The petitioner Mansoor Bhai, father of Irfan, also sought the court's direction to the police to initiate a departmental enquiry against those erring police officers, who were responsible for the faulty investigation.
Appearing for the petitioner, Counsel Anup J Bhambani submitted before the court that the prosecution had failed to produce a single photograph showing the 28 stab wounds received by Irfan all over his body at the time of incident.
The prosecution had failed to prepare a site plan which was an important piece of evidence to prove that the body was found near Ghazipur the counsel added.
Observing that the "police version in this case seemed to have been lifted from a detective novel or a Bollywood film," a city court on March 31, last year had acquitted five accused - Mustafa Ansari, Sanjay Kumar, Heera Singh, Mohammed Jasin and Mohammed Shahid, on the ground that the prosecution could not produce sufficient evidence.
A few days after the trial court verdict, the chief public prosecutor decided not to file an appeal in the case.
According to prosecution, the case dates back to March 8, 1999 in which Irfan, a journalist with "Outlook" magazine, was abducted and later killed after he was robbed of his car. His decomposed body was found in a bush on the National Highway 8 near Ghazipur.
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