Booked for transporting ‘fake’ water purifiers, how Delhi tempo driver ran around for 7 years to clear his name

Last month, a Faridabad tribunal acquitted each six persons and came down heavy connected the police. In its order, the tribunal said determination is not an iota of grounds to beryllium the alleged committee of offence arsenic the grounds connected the record intelligibly suggests that nary specified incidental ever happened.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sheikh, who lives successful a one-bedroom location measuring 50 yards successful West Delhi’s Vishnu Garden, with his wife, five-year-old son, and mother-in-law, said helium had agreed to transport the ROs for Rs 1,200. Sheikh said helium knew helium was transporting ROs — but helium did not cognize that they were fake.

“I was hired and told to instrumentality the tempo conscionable till the Badarpur border. But erstwhile I got there, I was told to transverse the borderline and spell 3 km further for an other Rs 300. Sometimes, I wonderment what would person happened had I not been greedy for the Rs 300… but we are regular wagers truthful that magnitude mattered,” said Sheikh.

It was not conscionable Sheikh who went done the ordeal but besides his family. His woman Farhana (40) refuses to talk astir it. “Jo tha bas khatam ho gaya (Whatever it is, it’s implicit now). I conscionable anticipation and commune it ne'er happens to anyone,” she said.

For Anwar, the 3 days successful jailhouse were the worst days of his life. “Never successful my beingness did I deliberation I’d beryllium successful jail. I cried each night, the blankets were truthful smelly that I would region my garment and worldly it successful my rima truthful nary 1 could perceive maine cry. I person a liver contented and erstwhile my person came to springiness maine medicine, the cops asked him to portion it archetypal earlier handing it implicit to me,” helium said.

During his conflict to wide his name, helium sold his tempo and took the Metro to be tribunal hearings. Now, helium has a caller tempo — and a antithetic enslaved with the police. “Sometimes, I tally into them portion driving around… the bull who was determination erstwhile I was successful the constabulary presumption is present successful the Traffic unit. I met him once,” added Sheikh.

What the tribunal said

The accused successful the lawsuit — Anwar, Laxmi Narayan, Mohd Intaj, Bijender Kumar, Naveen Kumar and Rajeev Singhal — were acquitted connected October 3.

The tribunal bid noted that the complainant successful the case, Manoj, who had earlier claimed helium received concealed accusation regarding duplicate ROs, had failed successful the cross-examination and adjacent refused to place the alleged accused. The complainant besides mentioned that nary betterment was effected successful his beingness and claimed constabulary had taken his signatures connected a blank paper.

The court, successful its order, said, “Furthermore, the load of impervious is connected the prosecution to beryllium the guilt of the accused… it is not for the accused to beryllium its innocence.”

“It has besides been indicated that erstwhile the important nexus goes (as successful the instant lawsuit i.e. sedate uncertainty astir the individuality of the accused, non-examination of autarkic witnesses, and non-production of lawsuit property/lack of nexus evidence, inconsistent aesculapian grounds successful opposition to ocular grounds etc), the concatenation of circumstances gets snapped and the different circumstances cannot, successful immoderate manner, found the guilt of the accused beyond each tenable doubt,” the bid added.