BMW murder: ‘Intention is established’, court frames murder charge against Rarewala
The court observed that it was wrong to say that there is no medical evidence to support the fact that the deceased was run over by a car, and the intention had already been established.
Nine months after Himachal Pradesh chief minister’s nephew Akansh Sen died after being run over by a BMW car in Sector 9, the trial court on Friday framed murder charge against Harmehtab Singh Rarewala, co-accused in the case.
Rarewala, alias Farid, is the grandson of Gian Singh Rarewala, first chief minister of the former Indian state of Patiala and East Punjab States Union (Pepsu). He was sitting on the passenger’s seat of the car and allegedly instigated main accused Balraj Singh Randhawa to run over Sen repeatedly. Randhawa is absconding.
After months of investigation and multiple hearings, the court of additional district and sessions judge JS Sidhu on Tuesday pronounced the order, stating that there are “sufficient grounds” to frame Rarewala under Section 302 (murder) read with Section 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The court observed that it was wrong to say that there is no medical evidence to support the fact that the deceased was run over by a car, and the intention had already been established.
The court said that if later evidence surfaces that it was a culpable homicide not amounting to murder, then punishment can be given under Section 304 of the IPC even if the charge is framed under Section 302, without necessitating fresh recording of evidence and new trial.
The order also highlights the contradictions between the postmortem report and medical board’s opinion.
“…it is correct that initially as per medical certificate the immediate cause of death was disclosed accident with severe head injury but later on as per medical board opinion, it was disclosed that the death in this case was due to carnio-cerebral damage... which is sufficient to cause death in ordinary case of nature,” it stated.
Bail plea dismissed
Later, the court also dismissed Rarewala’s bail plea. The court maintained the same grounds for rejecting the plea as while framing the charges, calling murder a serious offence. It was also observed that since the main accused was on the run, giving bail to the co-accused might hamper the investigation. The matter will now come up for hearing for evidence on November 15.
Sen was allegedly run over thrice by a BMW car following a brawl on the night of February 9. The incident allegedly occurred after a group of friends went for a party at Boombox Café, co-owned by Sen.
Rarewala was arrested on February 16, while the BMW car was found abandoned in Mandi Gobindgarh four days later. The defence had been arguing that it was a case of accident. During the arguments, they pleaded that charges be framed under Section 304 of the IPC, since there was no intention to commit the murder.
