Probe evidence of Sidhu's claimed innocence: Court

New Delhi: After Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu, arrested in connection with the violence at Red Fort this Republic Day, moved a Delhi court seeking directions to the Delhi Police to collect all evidence pointing towards his claimed innocence and conduct a fair probe, the court has noted that it is not the job of the investigating officer to collect evidence "only to prove the guilt of the accused, rather he has to bring true picture before the Court".

The petition was disposed of by the court on Friday after issuing directions to the Delhi Police to conduct a fair and impartial investigation with respect to Sidhu's alleged role in the case and probe the points raised by him in his application.

In the application, Sidhu argues his innocence by saying that there is no video that shows or proves he asked people to gather at Red Fort, and neither did he indulge in any of the violence perpetrated in the area on the given day. The application says he was a peaceful protester.

Moreover, Sidhu's lawyers go on to say that he was staying at a hotel in Murthal on January 26 and had checked out from there only at noon, by which time protesters had already reached Red Fort. He said that the CCTV footage from the hotel would prove this in addition to his mobile location records.

Sidhu's lawyers added that there is a car navigation system installed in the Ford Endeavour car that he used on the day, which would also show the route he took from Murthal to Red Fort and the time at which he reached the spot of the incident.

They also added that there is CCTV footage from the Red Fort available that purportedly shows Sidhu helping the police by requesting the protesters in the crowd to leave the ramparts from where they were trying to hoist the flag.

However, the prosecution argued that this was an attempt by the accused to guide the Delhi Police's investigation against him, which would amount to trying to divert the police's probe.

The court, in its order on Thursday, directed all police officials involved in the investigation to probe "the points as mentioned in the application made by the complainant to unearth the truth" and that it was the job of the investigating officer to conduct a fair and impartial investigation.

However, it also noted that if the evidence pointed out by Sidhu proved to be incorrect and he tried to mislead the probe by fabricating, then appropriate action must be taken against him.