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Chandigarh: Three years on, all four accused let off in Sector-15 double murder
While the detailed order is awaited, the acquittal came even as the ballistic report had established that the bullets that killed the students were fired from the same weapons that were recovered from the accused
In a major embarrassment for the Chandigarh Police, a local court on Saturday acquitted all four accused in the 2019 double murder where two college students were shot dead in Sector 15, after police failed to prove allegations before the court.
Those acquitted are Ankit Narwal, a former DAV College student leader; Sunil, alias Sillu, a BA student at a Panipat college; Vicky, alias Kalia, and Amit.
While the detailed order is awaited, the acquittal came even as the ballistic report had established that the bullets that killed the students were fired from the same weapons that were recovered from the accused.
The victims, Ajay Sharma and Vineet Kumar, both hailed from Jind and were in their early 20s. While Ajay was a final-year BSc student at SD College, Sector 32; Vineet was a BSc final-year student at Post-Graduate Government College, Sector 11. Both were associated with the Hindustan Student Association.
On the night of December 18, 2019, the two friends were home around 10.15 pm, when four armed men had barged in, enquiring about Ashu Nain, a final-year BA student at DAV College, Sector 10.
When the duo expressed ignorance about Nain’s whereabouts, the assailants had fired 21 shots and fled, as per their friend and complainant Mohit Punia. Having suffered multiple bullet wounds, the victims had later succumbed at PGIMER.
According to police, Nain had left the second-floor rented accommodation merely a few moments before the attack.
Police had claimed Bishnoi link
After arresting the four accused, police had claimed that they had links with the Lawrence Bishnoi-Raju Basodia gang. With the arrest of Sunil and Vicky, police had even recovered two country made weapons, along with seven live cartridges, that they had claimed were procured with the help of the gang.
Police had then said that Ashu Nain, who was the real target of killers, and accused Ankit Narwal were active in student politics and involved in multiple verbal spats, which brought them to the point of killing each other.
In November 2019, a quarrel had broken out between them, where Narwal and his aide Vicky had even suffered injuries after Nain attacked them with a bottle. A case was also registered at the Sector-11 police station. Since then, Narwal had been holding a grudge against Nain and his accomplices Ajay Sharma and Vineet Kumar.
‘Police failed to establish motive’
“There was no motive for killing and police also failed to prove the recoveries, as there was no independent witness when the recoveries were made, thus making them unreliable,” said defence counsel Rabindra Pandit.
He added, “The complainant in this case, Mohit Punia, had also failed to identify the accused.”
