Cong MLA acquitted in 14-year-old assault case

New Delhi, Jun 2:

MLA Asif Mohd Khan has been acquitted by a Delhi court of the charges of assaulting and obstructing MCD officials engaged in some construction work in 1999, as the witnesses turned hostile.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pritam Singh acquitted Khan, an MLA from Okhla here, in the case saying prosecution has failed to prove its case against him. "The prosecution failed to prove its case against him beyond reasonable doubt. The accused deserved to be acquitted of the charges under section 186 (obstructing public servant), 353 (assault of public servant) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC," the court said on Saturday.

"Prosecution witnesses, who were public servants and were allegedly obstructed by the accused, have not supported the case of the prosecution and all the four (officials) have turned hostile," the court said.

According to the prosecution, Khan had obstructed public servants Rakesh Rana, Anil Agarwal, Ved Prakash and OP Verma, working as engineers with Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), from discharging their duties when they were engaged in construction work at Basti Vikas Kendra at Batla House here.

Rana had lodged a police complaint alleging that Khan had assaulted one of the MCD officials and obstructed others from discharging their duties on December 1, 1999. Khan, who was an MCD councillor at the time of the alleged incident, had pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

He claimed in the court that he has been falsely implicated in the case and refuted the allegations levelled against him. Khan's counsel Tanveer Ahmed Khan during the trial had said that he had been falsely implicated. While acquitting the legislator, the court said "in a criminal trial the onus remains on the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubts and benefit of doubt, if any, must necessarily go in favour of the accused".

PTI