Telangana High Court Upholds 10-Year Sentence for Engineering Student Shooter

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court confirmed the sentence of 10 years in jail imposed on Umedullah Khan, who in 2007 had opened fire at his senior student Mukrram Ali Siddiqui with his father’s revolver at an engineering college in Darussalam premises to establish supremacy among the students.

Justice E.V. Venugopal of the High Court confirmed the punishment awarded by the First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Hyderabad, in 2013.

Khan had approached the High Court stating that though there were some other persons available at the scene of offence, the prosecution did not examine any independent witness. It had made witnesses of those who were related to each other. Further, the hospital which had treated the victim did not produce the discharge summary and X-rays of the wounds. Khan also objections on technical issues like not following the police rules while investigating and typographical issues in the arrest card and others.

Rejecting the contentions, Justice Venugopal said that only when the genesis and the manner of the incident is doubtful, the accused cannot be convicted. In the instant case, the prosecution had proved the motive for the offence and had established the manner and series of incidents. Hence, the sentence cannot be set aside, Justice Venugopal said.

It was stated that Khan and his victim Md. Mukarram Ali Siddiqui. Khan brought a licensed revolver belonging to his father and opened fire at Siddiqui at about 1.15 pm on April 21, 2007, in the college premises. Khan was caught by the students and security personnel of then MLA Afsar Khan, who was present at MIM office at Darussalam.

The prosecution had made the gunman of the MLA as independent witness and the lower court had taken cognisance of the charges. Based on his statement and that of the other witnesses, the court found Khan guilty and convicted him. In the High Court, Khan’s counsel argued that the gunmen was not a direct evidence. Justice Venugopal pointed out that there was circumstantial evidence proving that Khan had been involved in the incident.