Overview
- A division bench delivered conflicting rulings on the same record in the 2016 killings of NIA DSP Tanzeel Ahmed and his wife in Bijnor.
- Chief Justice Arun Bhansali will constitute a special three-judge bench to re-hear the appeal.
- Justice Rajiv Gupta ordered Raiyyan’s acquittal, citing late disclosure of names, contradictions in testimony, and a hostile witness, finding the prosecution fell short of proof beyond reasonable doubt.
- Justice Harvir Singh affirmed conviction but replaced the trial court’s death sentence with life imprisonment, relying on the daughter’s eyewitness account corroborated by injury and post-mortem evidence.
- Co-accused Munir died during the high court proceedings, after a 2022 trial court verdict that had sentenced both men to death and imposed fines.