2020 Delhi riots: Court acquits 5 of murder, criminal conspiracy

New Delhi: A Delhi court has acquitted five men accused of murder during the February 2020 riots.

Additional sessions judge Pulastya Pramachala in an order passed on April 3, found "no evidence" to connect the accused persons with the incident.

Other charges are not maintainable, he added.

The court acquitted Kuldeep, Deepak Yadav, Deepak Thakur, Mohammed Furkan and Mohammed Irshad of all the charges.

One Salman was allegedly murdered by a mob, however, in the court's opinion the investigating officer (IO) hadn't found the real culprit.

The five men were charged with the offence for allegedly being part of the mob that killed Salman.

"It is important for the prosecution to show that the alleged act was done by the members of that mob in pursuance to the common object of that mob and accused was member of such mob at the relevant time," the court said.

Going by the prosecution's theory, the court noted the presence of two mobs comprising members of two different faiths and confronting each other at Shiv Vihar Tiraha on February 24, 2020.

Their common object was to inflict damage upon the rival mob and not on their own members, it noted.

"Therefore, the stand taken by IO in the chargesheet to prosecute members of both rival mobs for culpable homicide of Salman cannot be accepted to be in consonance with the law," it held.