Kolkata: Two Congressmen convicted in 2003 for the 1993 murder of a person, claimed to be a CPM member, in Nadia were on Friday set free by Calcutta High Court, which observed that they were implicated out of political rivalry.
The division bench of justices Rajasekhar Mantha and Ajay Kumar Gupta flagged the missing FSL report of seized items as well as the lack of ballistics report on the cartridge found at the crime scene. "No FSL or ballistics report was placed before the trial court. The prosecution case, therefore, cannot be established in the absence of the aforesaid evidence," the HC held.
It was also noted that the prosecution's case had too many loose ends. They did not examine the children of the deceased, Sachin Mondal, who were in the next room when the crime occurred. Also, Mondal's wife used to take care of her nephew's father. While her nephew was made a prosecution witness, his father was not.
The murder took place on July 28, 1993, at Sahebnagar village. Mondal was sleeping next to his wife after returning home from fishing at Chari Ganga river while their children slept in the next room. Around 1.30 am, five to six persons entered the house and shot him. The bullet also allegedly hit his wife's arm, but no injury report was part of the evidence list.
It was claimed that Mondal was president of Krisak Sabha, a local body of farmers, at Sadhan Para Anchal and the accused were members of rival Congress. The court took note that Mondal's wife said he was a CPM member while registering the police complaint, but during cross-examination, she claimed he was apolitical. There was also a delay of five days in placing the FIR before the jurisdictional magistrate.
"The complainant and the prosecution have tried to hit two birds with one stone. The evidence of the two children was not brought on record since they would have revealed the truth. In this backdrop, the impugned judgment and order of conviction cannot be sustained in law and is liable to be quashed and set aside," the bench ruled, stating that the two would be set free if they were not wanted in any other case.