All 4 accused in Puneet murder case acquitted

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 15

In a major embarrassment for the local police, Additional District and Sessions Judge Anshu Shukla today acquitted all four accused in the sensational murder case of 27-year-old model Puneet Sandhu in a Sector 49 flat.

Puneet was shot thrice at point-blank range on October 16, 2014, and was found lying in a pool of blood by her live-in partner Amit Chaudhary.

The court today acquitted Chaudhary’s sister Anju, her friend Supreet, Anju’s father Ram Lal Chaudhary and Manpreet Singh, alias Lali, who had allegedly provided the weapon used in the murder.

In the police complaint, it was alleged that Ram Lal and Anju had hired Supreet to murder Puneet as Amit was ignoring his wife and children because of her.

However, due to lack of evidence and with all witnesses turning hostile, the prosecution failed to prove the charges of murder (Section 302) and criminal conspiracy (Section 120 B) of the IPC against the four.

The case, which has raised a question mark over the police investigation, saw all police theories failing to hold ground in the court. According to the defence, the motive behind the killing could not be established. The call details produced by the police in the court to link the accused with the victim were computer generated and did not have electronic certificates, which was necessary. The prosecution also failed to prove how the mobile phones of the accused were recovered as these were not in their names.

The DNA report prepared by the CFSL could not establish that accused Supreet killed Puneet. The blood group of the two was the same but it could not be established whose blood was there on the T-shirt, which was recovered. There was also a delay by the police in sending parcels to the CFSL.

The defence pointed out that when the T-shirt was recovered, no video was made by the police.

The statements of investigating officials — Inspector Maninder Singh and Sub-Inspector Ashok Kumar — regarding the recovery of the T-shirt, pistol, ammunition and Rs 22,000 mismatched.

“The police failed to prove the case and none of their theories could be established in the court,” said defence lawyer Ravindra Pandit.

All witnesses, including victim’s mother Lakhwinder Kaur, sister Avneet Kaur, live-in partner Amit, Amit’s brother-in-law Prince and Sunil Gupta, a business partner of Amit’s father, had turned hostile in the case.