Kaimbwala trader held in 2018 walks free

Chandigarh, April 22

Jaspreet Singh Minhas, Judicial Magistrate, First Class, has acquitted a trader, Rajesh Kumar, arrested in a case registered under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act and Section 336 of the IPC after the prosecution failed to prove charges.

The police had registered a case against him on October 21, 2018 after a fire broke out at a shop in Kaimbwala village.

The police registered the case on a complaint filed by Ram Dass, Inspector of the Food and Civil Supplies Department. He told the police that he received information from a cop, who alleged that a fire broke out at a shop while the trader was illegally transferring gas from domestic gas cylinders to smaller cylinders for commercial purposes.

He said the act of the trader could have caused major damage to human lives and properties. On his complaint, the police registered a case and arrested the accused.

After investigation, the police filed a chargesheet against the accused in the court. Finding a prima facie case, the court framed charges against the accused to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

Swaraj Arora and Mohak Arora, counsels for the accused, argued that he was falsely implicated in the case. They said the fire broke out due to short-circuit and not because of the reasons claimed by the police in the FIR. They argued that the police did not make any fireman of the Fire Department witness who reached there to douse the flames in the shop to tell the possible reasons behind the incident. At the same time, there were differences in the statements of the witnesses produced by the police.

They said even the complainant, Inspector of the Food and Supplies Department, gave a statement in the court that he did not see that gas was being filled from one cylinder to another in the shop.

An employee of the gas agency also told the court that there was no technology through which gas can be transferred from one cylinder to another cylinder.

After hearing the arguments, the court acquitted the accused of the charges framed against him.