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Trader, kin acquitted of charges of pilfering shrouds from cremation sites
Investigating officer found the trader, his son, nephew and their four helpers guilty of violating the Pandemic Act. Sections 188, 269 and 270 of the IPC and Section 3 of the Pandemic Act retained against them in the chargesheet
MEERUT Cloth merchant Praveen Jain, his two kin and four helpers, who were accused of stealing shrouds and other clothes after cremation of bodies only to resell them after repackaging them with the brand name of a Gwalior-based company last year, have been acquitted of these charges after an investigation by the crime branch of Ghaziabad.
The accused had been living with the tag of ‘kafan chor’ for almost a year after being charged by the Baraut police of Baghpat district.
“False charges levelled against the seven accused under sections 420, 468, 467, 471, 380, 457 and 411 of the IPC were dropped,” their lawyer Rajuddin told HT.
However, investigating officer, Nasir Hussain, found Praveen Jain, his son Ashish, nephew Rishabh, and their four helpers guilty of violating the Pandemic Act and sections 188, 269 and 270 of the IPC and Section 3 of the Pandemic Act were retained against them in the chargesheet.
Recalling the incident of May 9 2021, Ashish Jain said: “We are into cloth business for over seven decades now. As lockdown was in place due to Covid, we decided to do some packaging work in our house in Baraut as some cloth in the godown was getting damaged.”
He said four helpers Shravan Sharma, Ashish, Babu and Shahrukh were called to complete the job. “A group of 10-15 cops arrived at the house and queried how these people gathered for work during lockdown. They took all the seven people to the Baraut police station,” said Jain.
Ashish said the cops demanded a good amount of money to set them free. “When they refused to pay, they were booked on charges of stealing shrouds, other clothes and selling them after repackaging with the brand name of a Gwalior-based company,” he alleged.
Ashish said they had the bills of cloth purchase but the cops refused to listen and booked them.
“They all spent 27 days in jail for no fault before coming out on bail,” he recalled.
On their request of the accused, IG (Meerut range) transferred the investigation to the crime branch of Ghaziabad on May 26 last year for a fair probe.
Advocate Rajuddin said the investigating officer recorded statements of the chowkidar of the cremation ground, wood seller and owner of the Gwalior based company whose stickers were used on the cloth. He also examined the bills of purchase of cloth from Delhi and Baraut presented by trader Praveen Jain. After a thorough probe, he found them guilty of only violating the Pandemic Act and dropped the other charges against the accused.
SP (Baghpat), Neeraj Kumar Jadaun, said the investigation of the case was done by the crime branch of Ghaziabad and they will submit their chargesheet in court. “I have not received the report officially,” he said.
A communique of the district police media cell had claimed last year that the Baraut police had busted a gang involved in stealing shrouds and selling them after repackaging. It claimed that the police team recovered 520 shrouds, 127 kurtas, 140 white shirts, 34 white dhotis, 12 coloured shawls, 52 sarees, 3 ribbon packets, 158 ribbons of the Gwalior-based company and 112 stickers of the company.
Shopkeeper Praveen Jain, his two family members Ashish Jain and Rishabh Jain, were arrested along with Shravan Sharma, Ashish, Bablu and Shahrukh.
It was alleged that they had hired people who used to steal shrouds of the dead from cremation grounds, said police.
