New Delhi: A CNN-IBN Special Investigation on how the Delhi Police handled Outlook cartoonist Irfan Hussain murder's seven years ago has found that the probe was shoddy, the trial court misled and crucial evidence missing.
March 8, 1999: Outlook cartoonist Irfan Hussain murdered
31 March 2006: Trial court in Delhi declares the five accused not guilty
The court said the prosecution had failed to link the accused with Irfan's murder beyond doubt. The evidence was circumstantial and weak.
Irfan's father Mansoor Hussain says, "I think it is really unfortunate. Even though they had gathered all the evidence, the court refused to accept."
Missing evidence
Public Prosecutor A K Padhy, in a letter to the Joint Commissioner of Police, Legal Cell, had asked for 20 photo-negatives taken at the scene of the crime. The photographs should have been key prosecution evidence, but Inspector Prem Singh, the investigating officer in the case, refused to produce them. Where are these negatives? Why did the police refuse to produce them in court?
Why did the police not answer to allegations that Irfan's body was moved from the spot where he was murdered and dumped further along a road? These questions have not been answered.
Far from cooperating with each other, the police and prosecution were often at loggerheads. In fact, the police even demanded that Padhy be removed.
DCP T N Mohan, in a letter to the Delhi government, vaguely described Padhy’s attitude towards witnesses as rude and demoralising.
Even Y P Singh Ahluwalia, Chief Public Prosecutor at the Karkardooma Court, where the court was heard, admitted that police failed to provide material evidence. "There was no direct or indirect evidence in the case. It was all circumstantial evidence, which was extremely weak. The public witnesses also turned hostile. The court did not believe police officials," said Singh.
In a letter to the Principal Home Secretary, Delhi, Padhy described how a police witnesses first positively identified an accused, Shahid, in court but later gave elusive answers like "That may be him".
This flip-flop angered Judge O.P. Gupta to comment, "So many public witnesses turn hostile everyday. Just leave it." Like in the Priyadarshani Mattoo and Jessica Lall cases, the Irfan murder case too fell flat.
