Delhi District Court
State vs Danish Zafar on 26 July, 2025
IN THE COURT OF DR. NUPUR GUPTA
CHIEF JUDICIAL MAGISTRATE
SOUTH EAST, SAKET COURTS, NEW DELHI
STATE Vs. DANISH ZAFAR
FIR No. 177/2019
PS (CRIME BRANCH / SED)
u/s 25 Arms Act
JUDGMENT :-
Srl. No. of the case & Date of 5117/2020 institution 28.10.2020. Date of commission of offence 21.06.2019 Name of the complainant Head Constable Devender. Name of the accused Danish Zafar. Nature of offence complained of u/s 25 Arms Act. Plea of the accused person Accused pleaded not guilty Date of reserving order 17.07.2025 Final Order Acquittal. Date of order 26.07.2025. BRIEF FACTS OF THE PRESENT CASE ARE THAT:- 1) On 21.06.2019, one secret informer came to HC Devender and
informed that a person namely Danish Zafar, who is involved in several cases in Delhi, would be coming near Modi Mill, Nehru Place, New Delhi and might commit another offence and he might be apprehended if raid be conducted. Thereafter, HC Devender shared the said information with SI FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 1 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:00:37 +0530 Kuldeep Singh. Thereafter, SI Kuldeep Singh shared the said information with Insp. Neeraj Chaudhary, who further shared the said information with the then ACP / ISC and upon his directions, one raiding team was constituted which included SI Kuldeep Singh, HC Rakesh, HC Shailender and the secret informer. The raiding team then boarded a private car along with IO Kit and left the office of ISC / Crime Branch / SED at about 05:30 PM and reached near Modi Mill. They then requested 4-5 public persons to join the raid proceedings, however, they refused to join the proceedings and left the spot. At about 08:00 PM, they saw one person coming from the side of Jamia Nagar towards the side of Nehru Place. Upon seeing the said person, secret informer pointed towards the said person and informed that the said person is Danish Zafar and then left the spot. The said person stood at the said spot for about 10-15 mintues and, thereafter, started moving from the spot. Thereafter, HC Devender and HC Sheilender acted swiftly and apprehended the accused. They then enquired him and he disclosed his name as Danish Zafar S/o Mohammad Arif. They then conducted his cursory search and found one katta along with one live cartridge. Upon checking the said katta / pistol, the same was found loaded. Thereafter, the accused and the recovered case property were taken to the office of ISC / Crime Branch and the investigation of the case was marked to ASI Rakesh Kumar.
2) It is further the case of the prosecution that IO conducted further inquiry in the present case, prepared documents, and after due investigation, he prepared the charge-sheet and filed before the Court.
3) After finding the prima-facie case against the accused Danish Zafar, summons were issued against him and procedural formalities u/s 207 FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 2 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:00:43 +0530 CrPC were conducted.
4) Subsequently, charge u/s 25 Arms Act was framed against him, to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. Thereafter, the case was fixed for prosecution evidence.
5) In order to prove its case, prosecution examined four witnesses.
6) PW / HC Devender Singh was examined by the prosecution as PW1. He deposed that on 21.06.2019, he was posted as Head Constable at PS Crime Branch, Chanakya Puri. On that day, at about 05:00 PM, one secret informer met him and informed that one person namely Danish would come near Modi Mill and was going to commit a biggest incident and if raid be conducted there is possibility that he could be apprehended Thereafter, the said information was shared with SI Kuldeep Singh by him and after that SI Kuldeep Singh shared the said information with Insp.
Neeraj Chaudhary who informed the same to ACP/ISC Crime Branch on the telephone. After that the ACP Crime Branch directed to Insp. Neeraj Chaudhary to take the necessary action in this regard. Thereafter, a raiding party in the supervision of SI Kuldeep Singh was formed comprising of himself, HC Shailender, HC Rakesh and SI Kuldeep. Thereafter, they left the office for the spot through private car alongwith the IO kits including the laptop, UPS and printer vide DD no. 16. At about 06:45 P.M., they reached near Modi mill and the car was parked there. IO requested to 4-5 persons to join the investigation after briefing them about the information but they denied to join the investigation and left the place without disclosing their names and addresses. After that they took their positions at the spot. The secret informer remained with him. In the meantime at about FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 3 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:00:50 +0530 08:00 P.M. one person was seen coming from the Jamia Nagar side and gone towards the Nehru Place side. The secret informer informed him that he is the said person who is going to commit a big offence and is the person namely Danish. Thereafter, the secret informer left the place. The said person remained there for about 10 to 15 minutes and waiting for someone and thereafter he went towards the Jamia Nagar side. Thereafter, he with the assistance of HC Shailender apprehended him who on enquiry disclose his name as Danish Jafar. On the cursory search of accused, one desi katta 3.15 bore and loaded live cartridge were recovered from the inside dabb of wearing pant of accused. One live cartridge was also recovered from the left side pocket of the wearing pant of accused. Thereafter, he prepared the sketch memo of the desi katta and cartridge which is Ex.PW1/A. After that he had prepared the pullanda of the case property and sealed the same with the seal of DK. Thereafter, he had seized the pullanda alongwith case property vide seizure memo Ex.PW1/B. He had handed over the seal to HC Shailender after its use and prepared the handing over memo in this regard which is Ex.PW1/D. Thereafter, they alongwith case property and accused returned to the PS Crime Branch, Chankayapuri where he prepared the rukka which was Ex.PW1/C. Thereafter, the investigation of the case was marked to ASI Rakesh who later on came in his office and he handed over the custody of accused and case property along with the documents which were prepared by him to the IO. Thereafter, he along with IO went to the spot who prepared the site plan at his instance which was Ex.PW1/E. Thereafter, IO recorded his statement to this effect. He correctly identified the accused and the case property i.e. one desi katta 3.15 bore alongwith two cartridges. The case property is Ex.P-1 (colly).
FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 4 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:00:57 +0530
7) PW / ASI Shailender was examined by the prosecution as PW2. He deposed that on 21.06.2019, he was posted as Head Ct. at PS Crime Branch, Chankayapuri, New Delhi. On that day, at about 05:00 P.M., one secret informer met with previous IO HC Devender and informed him that one person namely Danish would come Near Modi Mill and was going to commit a biggest incident and if raid be conducted there is possibility that he could be apprehended. Thereafter, the said information was shared with SI Kuldeep Singh by him and after that SI Kuldeep Singh shared the said information with Insp. Neerarj Chaudhary who informed the same to ACP/ISC Crime Branch on the telephone. After that the ACP Crime Branch directed to Insp. Neeraj Chaudhary to take the necessary action in this regard. Thereafter a raiding party in the supervision of SI Kuldeep Singh was formed comprising of himself, HC Devender, HC Rakesh and SI Kuldeep. Thereafter, they left the office for the spot through private car along with the IO kits including the laptop, UPS and printer vide DD no.
16. At about 06:45 P.M., they reached near Modi mill and the car was parked there. IO requested to 4-5 persons to join the investigation after briefing them about the information but they denied to join the investigation and left the place without disclosing their names and addresses. After that they took their positions at the spot. The secret informer remained with IO. In the meantime at about 08:00 P.M., one person was coming from the Jamia Nagar side and gone towards the Nehru Place side. The said person remained there for about 10 to 15 minutes and waiting for someone and thereafter he started to go towards the Jamia Nagar side. Thereafter, he alongwith IO HC Devender apprehended him, who, on enquiry disclosed his name as Danish Jafar. On the cursory search of accused, one desi katta 3.15 bore and loaded live cartridge were recovered from the inside dhub of wearing pant of accused.
FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 5 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:01:02 +0530 One live cartridge was also recovered from the left side pocket of the wearing pant of accused. Thereafter, IO prepared the sketch memo of the desi katta and cartridge which is already Ex.PW1/A in his presence. After that IO prepared the pullanda of the case property and sealed the same with the seal of DK. Thereafter, IO had seized the pullanda along with case property vide seizure memo already Ex.PW1/B. IO had handed over the seal to him after its use and prepared the handing over memo in this regard in his presence which is already Ex.PW1/D. Thereafter, they along with case property and accused returned to the PS Crime Branch, Chankayapuri. Thereafter, the investigation of the case was marked to ASI Rakesh who later on came in the office of previous IO and the previous IO had handed over the custody of accused, case property along with the documents to the subsequent IO. Thereafter, subsequent IO recorded his statement to this effect. During the course of investigation he again joined the investigation with the subsequent IO who had arrested the accused and conducted his personal search in his presence vide memo Ex.PW2/A and Ex. PW2/B respectively. IO had also interrogated the accused in his presence and recorded the disclosure statement which is Ex.PW2/C. He correctly identified the accused and the case property i.e. one desi katta 3.15 bore alongwith two cartridges. The case property is Ex.P-1 (colly).
8) PW / ASI Rakesh Kumar was examined by the prosecution as PW3. He deposed that on 21.06.2019, he was posted TIC at 15C/Crime Branch. Chanakyapuri. On that day, at about 05:00 P.M., one secret informer came at the branch and informed HC Davinder that a person who was having illegal weapons and usually commits the offences of robbery/ snatching would come near by Modi Mill at about 08:30 P.M., and he is willing to commit a serious offence. If raid be conducted he could be apprehended.
FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 6 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:01:07 +0530 After getting the information, HC Davinder narrated the whole information to SI Kuldeep Singh who further informed about the same to Insp. Neeraj Chaudhary who further stated the information ACP/ISC and ACP directed the Inspector to do the needful. After getting the directions from inspector, he along with HC Davinder, SI Kuldeep, HC Shailender and informer went to the place in a private car. They left the office vide DD NO. 16 dated 21.06.2019. They reached at the above said place at about 06:45 P.M. There, HC Davinder requested four to five persons to join the raiding team but none of them joined the same by stating their reasonable reasons and no notice was served to them as their reasons were genuine and even due to shortage of time. At about 08:00 P.M., one person was coming from Jamia Nagar and going towards Nehru Place and secret informer pointed towards him and after that he left the place. The above said person stopped ahead from the flyover and started waiting for someone. After 10-15 minutes, when he tried to left the spot, HC Davinder and HC Shailender apprehended that person and during interrogation he revealed his name Danish Zafar. Thereafter, HC Davinder made a cursory search of the above said person and he found one country made pistol along with one live cartridge. Thereafter, HC Davinder opened the pistol and he found another live cartridge inside the pistol. Just to maintain the law and order condition and to avoid the traffic jam, they all along with accused and case property came back at the ISC/Crime Branch. Thereafter, HC Davinder placed the katta along with the cartridge on a white paper and prepared the sketch of the same which is already Ex. PWI/A. Thereafter, HC Davinder prepared a Pulanda and put the case property into plastic box and sealed the same with the seal of DK and after using the seal the same was handed over to HC Shailender vide seal handing over memo which is already Ex. PWI/D. FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 7 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:01:14 +0530
9) During investigation, IO seized the case property vide seizure memo which is already Ex. PW1/B. Thereafter, IO prepared a Tehrir and handed over the same to him for the registration of FIR. He left the office for PS Crime Branch at about 11:30 P.M., and came back at the office along with copy of FIR and original Tehrir at about 01:30 P.M. After reaching at the office, he handed over the copy of FIR and original Tehrir to ASI Rakesh as further investigation was marked to him. After getting the copy of FIR, ASI Rakesh wrote down the particulars on the documents already prepared by HC Davinder. Thereafter, he along with HC Davinder and ASI Rakesh went to the spot where ASI Rakesh prepared the site plan at the instance of HC Davinder and came back at the office where IO recorded his statement U/s 161 CrPC. He correctly identified the accused and the case property i.e. one desi katta 3.15 bore alongwith two cartridges. The case property is Ex.P-1 (colly).
10) PW / SI Rakesh Kumar was examined by the prosecution as PW4.
He deposed that in the intervening night of 21/22.06.2019, he was posted as ASI at Crime Branch. At that time, he was present in the office and at about 01:30 am, HC Rakesh came at the office and handed over him the copy of present FIR along with tehrir prepared by HC Devender and informed him that the further investigation of the present case has been marked to him. When he was going through the contents of the FIR, HC Devender along with other police officials and accused came at the office and at that time HC Devender was having the custody of case property ie. one desi katta and two live cartridges which were recovered from the possession of the accused. After that HC Devender handed over him the custody of the accused along with case property which was already sealed with the seal of 'DK' and other documents was prepared by him. After FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 8 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:01:19 +0530 getting the custody of the documents, he wrote down the particulars of FIR on the documents which were prepared by HC Devender before the registration of the FIR. After that he handed over the custody of the accused and the case property to HC Shailender and thereafter, he along with HC Devender went to the place of incident i.e. near Modi Mill, Nehru Place, where he prepared site plan which is already exhibited as Ex.PW1/E. Thereafter, they tried to find out a person namely Salman whose name was revealed by the accused Danish but despite making efforts, he was not found and thereafter, they both came back to the office where he interrogated the accused and after interrogation, he arrested the accused vide arrest memo which is already exhibited as Ex. PW2/A. After that he made the personal search of the accused but nothing was found. The personal search memo is already exhibited as Ex.PW2/B and thereafter, he recorded the disclosure statement of the accused which is already exhibited Ex.PW2/C. After completing all the formalities, the medical examination of the accused got conducted. Thereafter, he recorded the statement of all the police officials who joined the investigation. Thereafter, he produced the accused before the court from where he was sent to judicial custody.
11) During investigation, he deposited the exhibits into the FSL for examination vide RC No.474/21/19 dated 28.06.2019. The RC certificate exhibited as Ex.PW4/A. After depositing the exhibits, FSL gave him a receipt pertaining to acceptance of the case property and same is exhibited as Ex.PW4/B. After that he handed over the copy of receipt to the MHC(M). Till the time the exhibits remained in his custody, no tampering was done to them. During investigation, he collected the result of FSL and on the basis of the same, he got a sanction u/s 39 Arms Act from the concerned authorities for prosecuting the accused. The same is also placed FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 9 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:01:25 +0530 on record. After the completion of the investigation, he prepared the charge-sheet and produced the same before the concerned authorities for further proceedings. He correctly identified the accused and the case property i.e. one desi katta 3.15 bore alongwith two cartridges. The case property is Ex.P-1 (colly).
12) PW / ASI Satyaveer was examined by the prosecution as PW5. He deposed that he had brought Register No.21 and Register No.19 as per the directions of this Hon'ble Court. As per Register No.21 vide RC No.474/21/19, the case property was handed over to ASI Rakesh Kumar for depositing the same in the FSL. The copy of the road certificate already exhibited as Ex.PW4/A. Beside this, he had brought a copy of Register No.19 vide which at serial No.3463, dated 22.06.2019, the case property of the present case was deposited with the then MHC(M), the same is now exhibited as Ex.PW5/B.
13) I have heard the submissions from both sides and carefully perused the material available on record.
14) It is trite that in criminal jurisprudence, the prosecution is under an obligation to prove its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
The standard of proof to be adopted in criminal cases is not merely of preponderance of probabilities but proof beyond reasonable doubts on the basis of cogent, convincing and reliable evidence. It is also well settled that in case of doubt, the benefit must necessarily be given to the accused. It is also settled position of law that whenever there are two views possible, the view which favours the innocence of the accused is to be accepted by the Court.
FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 10 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
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15) In the present case, the allegations against the accused is that he was found in possession of illegal weapon without having any valid license which is an offence under Section 25 Arms Act, 1959. It has been alleged that the accused persons was apprehended at the instance of secret informer and 01 country made pistol (desi katta) and one live cartridge were recovered from the possession of accused Ram Singh. In the present case, as the record would reveal, all the prosecution witnesses are police officials. No independent public witness had joined the investigation at any point of time. From a perusal of the record, no serious effort for joining public witnesses appears to have been made. No steps are shown to be taken to note down the names and addresses of those persons, if any, who had refused to participate in the proceedings. No notice is shown to be given to those persons. It is a well settled proposition that non-joining of public witness shrouds doubt over the fairness of the investigation by police. Section 100 (4) of the Cr.P.C. also casts a statutory duty on an official conducting search to join two respectable persons of the society.
Same has not been done in the present case. This casts a doubt on the fairness of the investigation. In the case titled as Nank Chand Vs. State of Delhi, Crl. Revision No. 169/81, decided on 07.11.1990, Hon'ble High Court of Delhi has observed as under:-
"The recovery was from a street with houses on both sides and shops nearby. And, yet no witness from the public has been produced. Not that in every case the police officials are to be treated as unworthy of reliance but their failure to join witnesses from the public especially when they are available at their elbow, may, as in the present case, cast doubt. They have again churned out a stereotyped version. Its rejection needs no Napoleon on the Bridge at Arcola.''
16) In the present case, non-joining of any public person as a witness creates doubt on the case of the prosecution. However, the fact of non-
FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 11 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:01:35 +0530 joining public witnesses is not the only ground to disbelieve the case of the prosecution. This Court is conscious that the prosecution case cannot be thrown out or doubted on the sole ground of non-joining of public witnesses as public witnesses keep themselves away from the Court unless it is inevitable. I get strength from the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Appabhai and another v. State of Gujarat, AIR 1988 SC
696. However, in the present case, it is not only the absence of public witnesses which raises a doubt on the prosecution but there are other circumstances too, as discussed hereinafter, which raise suspicion over the prosecution version.
17) The testimonies of the prosecution witnesses would show that first Investigating Officer had prepared the rough sketch of the alleged weapon, then sealed the articles in a transparent plastic box with the seal. He also seized the recovery country made pistol and one live cartridge vide seizure memo. Thereafter, he prepared the rukka and sent the police official for registration of FIR. It is, therefore, clear that the seizure memo of the case property, the pistol and the live cartridges, and the rough sketch were prepared before the rukka was handed over to the police official for registration of the FIR. The FIR was, therefore, admittedly registered after the preparation of the rough sketch. Accordingly, it follows that the number of the FIR would have come to the knowledge of the investigating officer only after a copy of the FIR was brought to the spot. Thus, ordinarily, the FIR number should not find mention in the seizure memo and the rough sketch which came into existence before registration of the FIR. However, interestingly, the FIR numbers are duly mentioned in the seizure memos. The same indicates that FIR number was mentioned on the said documents while preparing the same. Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in Pawan Kumar v. The Delhi Administration, 1989 Cri. L.J. 127, has FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 12 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:01:42 +0530 observed in paragraph 5 as under:
"... Learned counsel for the State concedes that immediately after the arrest of the accused, his personal search was effected and the memo Ex. PW11/D was prepared. Thereafter, the sketch plan of the knife was prepared in the presence of the witnesses. After that, the ruqa EX. PW11/F was sent to the Police Station for the registration of the case on the basis of which the FIR, PW11/G was recorded. The F.I.R. is numbered as 36, a copy of which was sent to the I.O. after its registration. It comes to that the number of F.I.R. 36 came to the knowledge of the I.O. after a copy of it was delivered to him at the spot by a constable. In the normal circumstances, the F.I.R. No. should not find mention in the recovery memo or the sketch plan which had come into existence before the registration of the case. However, from the perusal of the recovery memo, I find that the FIR is mentioned whereas the sketch plan does not show the number of the FIR. It is not explained as to how and under what circumstances the recovery memo came to bear the F.I.R. No. which had already come into existence before the registration of the case. These are few of the circumstances which create a doubt, in my mind, about the genuineness of the weapon of offence alleged to have been recovered from the accused."
18) In Mohd. Hashim v. State, 1999 VI AD (Delhi) 569, the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi has observed:
"... Surprisingly, the secret information (Ex. PW7/A) received by the Sub-Inspector Narender Kumar Tyagi (PW-7), the notice under Section 50 of the Act (Ex. PW5/A) alleged to have been served on the appellant, the seizure memo (Ex. PW1/A) and the report submitted under State v. Om Prakash Section 57 of the Act (Ex. PW7/D) bear the number of the FIR (Ex. PW4/B). The number of the FIR (Ex. PW4/B) given on the top of the aforesaid documents is in the same ink and in the same handwriting, which clearly indicates that these documents were prepared at the same time. The prosecution FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 13 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:01:59 +0530 has not offered any explanation as to under what circumstance number of the FIR (Ex. PW4/B) had appeared on the top of the aforesaid documents, which were allegedly prepared on the spot. This gives rise to two inferences that either the FIR (Ex. PW4/B) was recorded prior to the alleged recovery of the contraband or number of the said FIR was inserted in these documents after its registration. In both the situations, it seriously reflects upon the veracity of the prosecution version and creates a good deal of doubt about recovery of the contraband in the manner alleged by the prosecution."
19) In the present case also, no explanation has been given by the police officials for the FIR Number and case details on the rough sketch of the weapon, seizure memo of the case property, the pistol and the live cartridges. The same leads to only one conclusion that either the said documents were prepared later on or that the FIR had been registered earlier in point of time. In both the aforesaid cases a reasonable doubt has been raised on the case of the prosecution. It is also not explained as to how the seizure memos were prepared and printed on the spot. Weapon was seized from the accused with bare hands. No chance prints of accused were taken to match with fingerprints found on the weapon. The Crime Branch team was also not called for taking chance print of the accused. The same was a vital piece of evidence which would have connected the accused to the weapon allegedly seized from him. This is another major lacuna in the case of the prosecution which goes to the very root of the case. Thus, the possibility that the case property might have been tampered with cannot be ruled out. Further, the possibility that the case property was planted upon the accused can also not be ruled out.
20) As discussed in preceding paragraphs, there are several other loopholes in the testimony of the prosecution's witnesses which hit the FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 14 of 15 Digitally signed by NUPUR NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date:
2025.07.26 17:02:06 +0530 very roots of the prosecutions case. When the main pillars of the case of prosecution have fallen, it would be futile to look to the pillars which stand and try and ascertain whether the structure can be salvaged. In these circumstances, doubt has arisen on the case of the prosecution, benefit of which must necessarily be extended to accused namely Danish Zafar. In the light of discussion in the preceding paragraphs, it is held that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond the pales of reasonable doubt.
21. Accordingly, benefit of doubt is extended to accused namely Danish Zafar and he is acquitted for commission of offence u/s 25 Arms Act.
Ordered accordingly.
(Typed directly on Court computer and announced in the open Court on 26.07.2025).
Digitally signedNUPUR by NUPUR GUPTA GUPTA Date: 2025.07.26 17:02:12 +0530 (Dr. Nupur Gupta) Chief Judicial Magistrate, South East, Saket Courts, New Delhi FIR No. 177/2019 State Vs. Danish Zafar Page No. 15 of 15