LUCKNOW Nearly eight years after Apple sales executive Vivek Tiwari was shot dead during a late-night patrol, the district judge’s court in Lucknow on Monday sentenced dismissed constable Prashant Chaudhary to 10 years’ imprisonment after convicting him of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and imposed a fine of ₹ 20,000 on him.
Vivek Tiwari, who was driving, tried to flee, accelerated and hit the police motorcycle, then reversed and again hit the motorcycle, stated the court in its order. The prosecution examined eight witnesses, including Sana, Tiwari’s wife Kalpana Tiwari, police personnel, doctors who conducted the medical and post-mortem examinations, a city magistrate and the investigating officer. The final arguments were completed this year.
The trial stretched over the years, with the investigating officer’s evidence recorded between February and October 2024.
Prashant Chaudhary, who was in front of the car, apprehending danger to his life, fired from his service weapon at the front windscreen, which hit Tiwari’s face causing his death, said the court.
On September 17, the court had acquitted the second accused Sandeep Kumar in the case. As Chaudhary spent eight years in jail since 2018, he will be in prison for two more years. Holding the act punishable under Part-II of Section 304 of the IPC, the court said Chaudhary fired with knowledge that such an act was likely to cause death, but without intention to cause murder. The court observed that on the intervening night of September 28-29, 2018, while patrolling Gomti Nagar Extension area on a bike, constables Prashant Chaudhary and Sandeep Kumar came across an SUV on a deserted street and signalled it to stop on suspicion.
The former cop had already spent around eight years in jail. District judge Malkhan Singh also ordered to set off the period Prashant Chaudhary already spent in jail.
