Bail granted to 2, including one linked to BJP, in murder case

New delhi: Pointing out "discrepancies" in the statements of the mother of a 25-year-old man who was allegedly beaten to death by several persons in North-East Delhi's Usmanpur during last February's communal carnage, given to the police and the magistrate, the Delhi High Court has granted bail to two accused, including one associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, in a case of rioting and murder.

The single-judge bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait observed that the mother of the deceased, identified as one Irfan, who was reportedly among the sole-eyewitnesses of the crime, had given different statements before police (section 161 CrPC) and before a magistrate (section 164 CrPC) and her versions pertaining to her presence during the incident and the weapons used in its commission do not seem to add up.

The accused who have been granted bail are one Brijmohan Sharma alias Gabbar and Sunny alias Lalla. Sharma was reportedly the Mahamantri (General Secretary) of the BJPs Brahampuri Mandal and has been associated with the party for over a decade.

As per case records, the FIR in the matter was lodged after the Usmanpur police station received a call from a hospital stating that an injured person, 25-year-old Irfan, had been admitted following which he later succumbed to his injuries. The postmortem report revealed ante mortem injury and blunt force impact.

Thereafter, the statement of his mother Kuresha was taken where she stated that on February 26 at about 7:30 PM when she was going along with Irfan to fetch milk, suddenly eight to ten persons arrived with iron rods, bats and iron pipes and started attacking him vigorously. Scared, Kuresha ran towards home and informed her brother-in-law's son, Naseef, about the incident who came along with his friends and took an injured Irfan to hospital.

Kuresha named four attackers, Brijmohan, Sunny, Pankaj and one Sabzi Vala (vegetable vendor), to the police, however in her statement before a local court, she replaced the Sabzi Vala with one Rohit.

Justice Kait, in his order, pointed out the difference in the statements of the mother where she has given a police statement that she was going to fetch milk along with her son during the intervening period but in her statement recorded before a magistrate, has said that they were going to buy medicines and she was walking slowly and at a distance from Irfan.

She also, as per court, differed on weapons used as police statement says iron pipes and rods while court records say that iron sword was used. "The aforesaid two statements prima facie seem to be contradictory on the point of weapon of offence as well as her exact position at the spot of crime," the order read.

Further Justice Kait also noted that while Kureshi has stated iron sword as the weapon being used, the postmortem report of the deceased claimed that he was brought to hospital with stone injuries.