Hyderabad: Eight persons, including two medical students, accused of attacking an RTC bus and severely injuring its driver, were recently acquitted by a city court after police failed to prove the case during trial. The court noted several lapses in the investigation, including not submitting medical records of the injured driver and not conducting a test identification parade.
Another glaring lapse pointed out by the court was that the time recorded by police for conducting the crime scene observation panchnama was before the crime actually took place. The incident occurred when the accused were participating in a protest at Tank Bund under the Gandhi Nagar police station in Oct 2015.
Police alleged that during the incident, two persons on a black Bullet intercepted the bus, pelted stones at it, breaking the front glass, and the bus driver received injuries on his head, eyebrow, and left hand from the broken glass. Later, other persons were named as accused in the case.
Stating that there was no evidence to show that the accused committed the crime, the court pointed out that the broken glass of the bus was not seized. None of the independent witnesses or passengers on that bus was examined, and there was no proof to show that the driver received injuries, the court said.
Police did not conduct any test identification parade to get the accused identified. “When the driver reported that two unknown persons pelted stones at the bus glass, how could the other accused be added to this case without confession or any other supportive evidence?” the court questioned.
The court also questioned how police could prepare the panchnama at 7:00am, even before the alleged crime took place at 7:10 am.
