MUMBAI: The city cops met with the ire of a court after it declared that an alleged Chhota Shakeel sharpshooter was absconding for 20 years since he was accused of a murder but it was found that the guy had been in jail as an undertrial in another case for at least five of those years.This discrepancy was cited as one of the reasons by the court as it acquitted Ashraf Siddiqui, 43, in the killing of Wahid Ali Khan, the Bombay Aman Committee president, in 1999.

The prosecution had actually sent that Siddiqui went absconding after the criminal activity and was arrested on May 29, 2019.

The court referred to a February 14, 2019, judgment in another case where the DCB, CID, Mumbai, had accused Siddiqui and 2 others of conspiring to eliminate gangster D K Rao and one Ashok.

It discussed that the authorities had trapped and arrested Siddiqui, who was let off in this case, on September 3, 2014.

Then how the cops failed to trace him when he remained in jail? Authorities stopped working to find him though they keep the record of the absconding implicated and UTP [under trial detainee] It is an unrevealed mystery for the reason best understood to the cops company, said the court.MCOCA nod for sharpshooter is rejected by courtIn the 1999 murder case of the Bombay Aman Committee president, a city court noted that the Detection Crime Branch-CID, Mumbai, had filed the chargesheet, claiming prime accused Ashraf Siddiqui was absconding for 2 decades.Pointing at a 2019 judgment in a case where the alleged Chhota Shakeel sharpshooter was shown as detained in 2014 by the DCB-CID itself, the court said: If it is so, why prosecution is saying this implicated was absconding? According to record kept in the police station, police must have been had with the understanding about this fact.

This reality likewise raised doubt on the case of prosecution story.

So far as individual search and healing of mobile and SIM card from the implicated are concerned, absolutely nothing incriminating began record to connect this accused with the alleged event, stated the court, while acquitting Siddiqui in the murder of the Bombay Aman Committee president.Represented by advocates Mithilesh Mishra, C R Mishra and S C Mishra, Siddiquidenied the allegations.The court also contradicted sanction order provided already city police chief Sanjay Barve in 2019 for conjuring up the rigid MCOCA against Siddiqui.

The court stated Barves technique was really unexpected and the sanction order was passed in a really casual way.

Granting sanction is not a procedure.

It has to be offered after going through record and every detail ...

needs to be studied by skilled authority.

Sometimes of cross-examination, this witness [Barve] admitted that earlier chargesheet was submitted against the 2 accused in ...

2000, however, he did not verify the exact same previous to passing sanction order ..., the court stated.

-Rebecca Samervel