Gurgaon: Two years after a 19-year-old youth was allegedly beaten to death over an inter-caste relationship, the five persons arrested for murder walked free as his mother and brother-in-law turned hostile in the sessions court.On June 20, 2021, Nitin was found in a severely injured condition along the roadside in Sector 44, just hours after he left home with his cousin Varun.His mother Kamlesh and brother-in-law Mangal Singh had rushed the collegegoer to a local hospital after they were informed by a few passersby. The youth died during treatment.In their statements before the police, they claimed Nitin was assaulted by the family members of a woman with whom the youth was in a relationship. They claimed the woman was from a different caste and her family members were unhappy with their alliance.Mangal Singh had claimed during the police interrogation that on the way to the hospital, Nitin had told him the womans family members had called him to Rajiv Nagar on the pretext of discussing their marriage but instead beat him up and dumped him in Sector 44 assuming him to be dead. Based on Kamleshs complaint, a case on charges of murder (IPC Section 302), rioting armed with a deadly weapon (148), wrongful confinement (342), unlawful assembly (149) and criminal conspiracy (120B). The womans father was among five people — Kultaj and Varun, residents of Sector 5; Pradeep and Roshan Thakur, residents of Rajendra Park; and Maan Singh of Shivaji Nagar — were arrested.During the trial, Mangal Singh and Kamlesh, however, changed their statements. Kamlesh told the court that she had found Nitin in an injured and inebriated condition on a roadside, and he died of a cardiac arrest at the hospital. She also told the court the five men arrested in the case did not beat up son or were inimical towards him. She also submitted that Nitin had not disclosed the names of any person before his death. While public prosecutor Ashok Kumar argued before the court they had adequately established an unbroken chain of incriminating circumstances against the five accused, the counsel for the accused, Shyambir Singh, pointed to the discrepancies in the statements of official witnesses.Additional sessions judge Mona Singh, in her August 28 order, observed that the prosecution failed to prove its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. The court also rejected the disclosure statements of the accused where they admitted their crime, on the ground that no independent witnesses were joined at the time of recording statements by the police.Benefit of doubt is extended to the accused and they are acquitted of the charge levelled against them, said the court.

Stay updated with all the Latest Gurgaon headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.