Jaipur: There are many occasions when cops opt to provide lame excuses for their failure to provide evidence in criminal cases. However, the one given by the police in Rajasthan beats all. It is probably the most bizarre explanation that police have given during the hearing of a murder case. The police said that a monkey has fled with the evidence collected by them in case.
However, then there is more to follow. They said the constable in charge of keeping the evidence safe, was suspended. However, he retired and subsequently died thereby leaving the court entirely flabbergasted.
The stolen items included a murder weapon (a knife), from the police custody, according to a report in the ‘Times of India’.
The report states that the police were probing the unnatural death of Shashikant Sharma, a worker at a primary health centre in Chandwaji area of this city. The deceased went missing for three days before his body was found in September 2016.
The report states that the family of Sharma alleged that he was murdered. They even blocked the Delhi-Jaipur highway after the recovery of the body.
Following the protests, police arrested two persons identified as Rahul and Mohanlal Kandera, five days later. Both were residents of Chandwaji.
The two were presented before the additional district judge’s court here. Police said that the bag containing all the evidence, including the murder weapon, was kept under a tree. This is because the police station auditory had no space.
The trial has been going on for the past few years. When the court recently asked the police to present the evidence, they said it has been ‘stolen’ by a monkey. It left the court astounded. The bag had 15 other important pieces of evidence connected to the case, which are also missing. The police also gave a written statement in the lower court informing the bench that the evidence possessed by them has been ‘stolen’.
The angry bench then issued a notice to the police for not doing duty properly. The police then blamed a ‘careless’ constable. The police also said that the constable was suspended following the incident. However, he later retired and subsequently died, the report added.