Delhi court charges 4 men with murder, criminal conspiracy

PTI, Jan 14, 2023, 6:02 PM IST

A court here has charged four accused with murder and criminal conspiracy, saying there is “sufficient material” against them.

The court has also charged three of the accused with the offence of house trespass in order to commit an offence punishable with death.

It has, however, discharged one accused from all charges.

Additional Sessions Judge Monika Saroha was hearing a case against five men — Naveen Guliya, Rahul, Sonu, Chandra Shekhar and Sunil — who were accused of conspiring to kill the victim, Reena.

According to the prosecution, the victim was the wife of Guliya, who acted as the mastermind of the crime by hiring the other accused.

Guliya wanted to kill his wife as he was allegedly in an extramarital relationship, the prosecution said.

In a recent order, the court said considering the CCTV footage on record, the statements of a security guard present near the victim’s residence, Bharti with whom Guliya was allegedly in an extramarital relation and a child witness who was the first to have seen the victim after she was attacked and in whose presence Guliya had allegedly locked the doors of the house and kept the keys with himself, and the recovery of the knife used to commit the offence, it has found sufficient material to charge Guliya, Rahul, Sonu and Chandra Shekhar with the offences under sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

It also charged Rahul, Sonu and Chandra Shekhar with the offence under section 449 (house-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death) of the IPC.

The court acquitted Sunil of the charges, saying mere call detail records are not sufficient to proceed against him, and posted the matter for further proceedings on March 13.

The Malviya Nagar police station had lodged the FIR against the accused.