New Delhi, Aug 4 A Delhi court has acquitted a man in a 20-year-old kerosene hoarding case, saying that the prosecution failed to produce a single independent public witness and could not prove that the accused was in conscious possession of the seized commodity.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Tushar Gupta was hearing a case against Suraj Bhan, who was accused of illegally possessing 660 litres of blue kerosene oil meant for the public distribution system in northeast Delhi in July 2006.
In an order dated July 24, the court said, "This court finds that contravention of any specific provision of the Control Order has not been established, conscious possession and exclusive control of the seized commodity have not been proved and the seizure proceedings suffer from material infirmities."
The court said the prosecution's case suffered from "material contradictions" regarding the recovery, quantity of kerosene seized and the manner in which samples were drawn and sealed.
"It appears that no sincere efforts have been made to join the public persons in the investigation," the court said, noting that all prosecution witnesses were government officials and not a single independent witness was examined.
The judge said that government officials themselves drew the samples without associating any public witness, which cast doubt on the prosecution's version.
"Criminal conviction cannot rest upon suspicion, however strong it may be. The prosecution must establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, which it has failed to do," the court said.
According to the prosecution, officials of the Food and Supplies Department and the police recovered three drums containing 660 litres of blue kerosene oil from a shop in New Usmanpur on July 23, 2006. The accused allegedly failed to produce any licence or document authorising possession of the fuel.
However, the court said the prosecution failed to establish an unbroken chain of custody of the seized kerosene. It also noted that when the drums were produced before the court, they were found empty and with their lids open.
The court further questioned the presence of two key Food and Supplies Department officials during the raid, saying that the raid was conducted on a Sunday and neither official produced movement register entries showing their arrival and departure from office.
Holding that conscious possession of the kerosene and violation of the relevant control order were not proved beyond reasonable doubt, the court acquitted the accused of all charges under the Essential Commodities Act.
