A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Panchkula acquitted eight persons, including gangster Sukhpreet Singh Buddha, in the January 2017 double murder at Chautala village in Sirsa district, where two men were gunned down at a kinnow waxing plant.
The court on Monday acquitted Sukhpreet, Chhotu Ram Bhatt, Mahender alias Gangajal, Ravinder alias Vicky, Mukhram alias Kalu, Sukhdeep Singh alias Sukh alias Deep, Sukhwinder alias Minda and Harsimrandeep Singh alias Sema as prosecution failed to prove allegations against them.
As per the prosecution, Satbir Punia, 40, and Amit Saharan, 38, were gunned down on January 11, 2017, in the office of a kinnow waxing plant of Pradeep Godara at Chautala village.
The prosecution had termed the murders an outcome of gang rivalry between Bambiha gang and Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Sukhpreet is a member of the Bambiha gang while one of the deceased Amit Saharan was an acquaintance of gangster Bishnoi.
The accused were facing trial for criminal conspiracy (120B) read with murder (302), attempt to murder (307), rioting while armed with deadly weapons (148), for being members of unlawful assembly (149), criminal intimidation (506) of the IPC and the Arms Act.
“The case was based on circumstantial evidence and there was no evidence against the accused,” said one of the defence counsels, YD Sharma.
{{/usCountry}}“The case was based on circumstantial evidence and there was no evidence against the accused,” said one of the defence counsels, YD Sharma.
{{/usCountry}}“The material eyewitness as well as the person before whom extra judicial confession was made had turned hostile,” said advocate Naresh Jain, one of the defence counsels.
The detailed judgement was not immediately available.
Case file
On January 11, 2017, Satbir Punia and Amit Saharan were gunned down in the office of a kinnow waxing plant of Pradeep Godara at Chautala village. The assailants came in a vehicle and started firing indiscriminately on entering the office where Satbir and Amit were sitting. The FIR was registered at Dabwali Sadar police station on January 12, 2017.
Police had collected 28 empty cartridges, nine bullets along with 22 pieces of bullets.
In 2018, the Punjab and Haryana high court had directed the CBI to probe, after Navina, the wife of Amit Saharan, requested for transferring the investigation of the case. The CBI filed a chargesheet on December 15, 2020.
As per the prosecution, the murders were allegedly executed at the behest of gangster Chotu Ram Bhat, who had sent shooters from Punjab to carry out the killings. According to the prosecution, Bhat had been nursing a grudge against Saharan for allegedly giving shelter to men who had attacked Bhat in the court complex of Dabwali in September 2016.
Bishnoi had deposed as witness in court
Deposing before the court, Bishnoi had said his connection with Amit and revenge being the motive behind the double murders. Bishnoi said Bhat was under the impression that Amit was in knowledge of the attack on him and had given shelter to the shooters, so Bhat and his gang had been looking to avenge the attack.