Panchkula, Aug. 4 -- A local court has acquitted an accused in a 2017 snatching case, after pulling up Panchkula police for several legal lapses during the probe. The court of sessions judge Ved Parkash Sirohi pointed out that the police failed to follow proper legal procedure, including not conducting a formal test identification parade under judicial supervision and mishandling key aspects of the probe. These procedural flaws led to the acquittal of Shehnwaj, a native of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Complainant Anil Kumar from Kurukshetra had alleged that three men robbed him of his mobile phone and Rs.4,000 at Pinjore Garden on December 31, 2017. Two of the accused were arrested and convicted shortly after, while Shehnwaj was implicated later based on their statements. He was declared a proclaimed offender in July 2018 and nabbed in June 2024. The court found that the identification process was deeply flawed, as Shehnwaj had been shown to the complainant at the police detective office before being identified in court. This violated the legal requirement that a test identification parade must be conducted under judicial supervision. The court further pointed out that the complainant's identification of Shehnwaj in court was legally meaningless since it had already occurred after the accused was shown to him in an informal setting. The court said neither were the key physical features of the accused disclosed by the complainant in his initial complaint nor did he state that he could identify the accused if presented before him. Moreover, no CCTV footage or independent witnesses were presented by police, and no incriminating material was recovered from Shehnwaj....