By Arnabjit Sur
A Delhi court expressed serious concern over a case where a Delhi police officer investigating a 2020 northeast Delhi riots case allegedly manipulated evidence, leading to the false implication of an accused.
Acquitting the accused, Sandeep Bhati, the court directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to review the investigating officer’s (IO) conduct and take appropriate action.
The case before the court pertained to an attempt to murder charge against Bhati, with the prosecution primarily relying on a video clip purportedly showing him participating in the assault.
However, the court discovered that the IO had presented a truncated version of the clip, deliberately omitting a critical segment where Bhati was seen intervening to prevent the assault.
Additional sessions judge Pulastya Pramachala observed that instead of conducting a thorough investigation and identifying the actual culprits, the IO framed Bhati by manipulating evidence.
“The IO did not use the longer video, rather he cut short that video for 5 seconds, to omit the portion showing the accused stopping others from assaulting the victim,” the court noted.
It added that instead of tracing and prosecuting the actual culprits, the present accused has been framed for assault on the victim.
This story was originally published in hindustantimes.com. Read the full story here.
