CHENNAI: Around 16 years after MKB Nagar police in north Chennai arrested a local strongman in an attempt-to-murder case for allegedly setting a middle-aged man on fire, a city trial court had no choice but to acquit the accused after the victim himself turned hostile in court.
In July 2008, the police received a complaint that Ibrahmin Kani (39) had collected petrol from his bike in a brandy bottle, poured it over Balakrishnan and set him on fire. The incident allegedly happened after a football of Balakrishnan’s son Madan had hit Kani’s bike earlier in the day. Later that night, Kani rounded up Madan and threatened him, but Balakrishnan pleaded with him to let his son go and faced action from the strongman, police said.
The victim later got admitted to the Kilpauk Medical College with burn injuries on his chest, back and arms. His condition was serious enough for the policemen to take a dying declaration from him. After filing an attempt-to-murder case, the police arrested Kani, who accepted the charges then, the police version said. They also included half-burnt currency notes that were in Balakrishnan’s shirt pocket as evidence.
According to the police version, the crime was witnessed by at least five people in the vicinity, including Madan, who were later brought in as witnesses.
However, during trial, the court noted that all the five eye witnesses turned hostile.
In addition, Balakrishnan himself testified during cross examination that he was drunk and was carrying a brandy bottle in his shirt pocket which spilled and got ignited due to a spark on his bike’s tyre and that this had caused the burn injuries. The court noted this was in complete contrast to what he had stated in his complaint and his earlier deposition.
It caused the prosecution’s case to fall despite the doctors at the hospital testifying about the burn injuries sustained by the victim, the court said.
These turnarounds had caused sufficient doubt in the prosecution’s case even though the accused had confessed to the crime before the police, the court said.
Based on these factors, the trial court handed out an acquittal.