Delhi court acquits 12 in 2020 riot murder cases, says WhatsApp chats not substantive evidence
New Delhi: In a significant development related to the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots, a Delhi court has acquitted all 12 accused in five separate murder cases, ruling that WhatsApp chats cannot be treated as substantive evidence and may only serve as corroborative material.
The cases are among nine FIRs filed concerning the murder of nine Muslim men during the communal violence that claimed 53 lives and injured over 500 people. All five acquittals involve the same group of accused, with Delhi Police primarily relying on conversations from a WhatsApp group titled ‘Kattar Hindu Ekta’.
According to the chargesheets, one accused, Lokesh Solanki, had allegedly posted a message stating he had killed two Muslim men. This led to the arrest of others in the group. However, Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala observed in his judgments that such messages could have been exaggerated or false, posted with the intention of gaining status among peers.
“These posts may have been made to portray heroism and might not reflect the truth. Therefore, such chats cannot independently establish the accused’s guilt,” the court noted. The court emphasized that without independent corroborative evidence or reliable eyewitness testimony, the chats could not form the basis of conviction.
In the case of Hashim Ali, the court found no eyewitnesses and emphasised the weakness of the evidence. Similar findings were recorded in judgments concerning the deaths of Amin, Bhure Ali, and Hamza, where either no witness testified or all turned hostile.
In a separate ruling dated May 13, the court did convict Lokesh Solanki under sections related to promoting enmity and public mischief, stating that his messages were clearly aimed at inciting hatred against Muslims.
From 2020 to 2025, courts have delivered 109 judgments out of over 700 FIRs filed in connection with the riots. Of these, 90 cases (82%) resulted in acquittals with 57% of those due to hostile witnesses and only 19 led to convictions.
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Mumbai-Pune Expressway connecting link now fully operational
Mumbai (PTI): The Mumbai-bound carriageway of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway connecting link was opened to vehicular traffic on Saturday noon after a delay caused by the dismantling of inauguration infrastructure and cleaning work, a day after the Pune section became operational.
The 13.3 km-long "missing link", which bypasses a section of the Bhor Ghat stretch of the expressway and cuts travel time between Mumbai and Pune by 25 to 30 minutes, was inaugurated a day earlier by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the presence of Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar.
The Pune-bound carriageway of the corridor was opened to traffic immediately; however, the Mumbai-bound section remained closed to traffic for several hours after the inauguration.
An official of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation told PTI on Saturday that the opening of the Mumbai-bound carriageway was delayed mainly due to the dismantling of the inauguration infrastructure and cleaning work.
The removal of the stage and other decorations was completed in the morning. The work to load and transport the material slightly delayed the opening of the carriageway.
Vehicular movement on the carriageway began after all the remaining material was cleared and road cleaning was completed, the official added.
The expressway control room said that despite significant vehicular movement, the access-controlled highway has not witnessed any major traffic snarls since Friday evening, after the Pune-bound carriageway of the missing link was opened to traffic.
The Missing Link project connects Khopoli (in Raigad) on the Mumbai side to Kusgaon near Lonavala in Pune district and is expected to make the expressway fully access-controlled, easing congestion in the ghat section.
Developed by the MSRDC and dubbed an "engineering marvel", the project includes two tunnels, two viaducts and a cable-stayed bridge over Tiger Valley. It bypasses the steep, accident-prone ghat section, where frequent traffic snarls are reported during weekends and on public holidays.
