A court in New Delhi has acquitted three men in a case related to the 2020 North East Delhi riots, saying that it found the testimony of the prosecution's key witness unreliable and riddled with contradictions.

Additional Sessions Judge Parveen Singh was hearing the case against Vinay, Rahul and Sourabh Sharma, who were accused of assaulting and looting a man during the riots in Karawal Nagar in February 2020.

Several other accused in the case have already been discharged earlier.

In an order dated May 22, the court said, “Prosecution Witness (ASI Pratap Singh) is not found to be a credible witness and through his testimony, the prosecution has failed to prove its case against the accused persons. All the accused are accordingly acquitted of all the charges framed against them”.

According to the prosecution, complainant Hamid Ali alleged that on February 24, 2020, his son Jafar Zia was returning home on a motorcycle when 20-25 rioters allegedly attacked him near a Karawal Nagar check post, assaulted him with weapons, looted cash and documents, and damaged his motorcycle.

The chargesheet claimed that the accused were identified during the investigation through disclosures, recoveries and CCTV footage.

During the trial, however, the injured witness failed to identify the accused and stated that the attackers had covered their faces.

The court noted that the entire case regarding identification of the accused ultimately rested on the testimony of ASI Pratap Singh, but found major inconsistencies between his version and that of the victim.

The judge said that while the victim said all assailants had covered their faces and never mentioned police intervention at the scene, the officer claimed he had seen some attackers without face coverings and chased them away.

The court also noted contradictions regarding how the accused were traced and identified.

Holding that the prosecution had failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the court acquitted all the accused.