Lucknow: Nearly a decade after 38-year-old Apple sales manager Vivek Tiwari was shot dead on a Lucknow road, a local court has finally delivered its verdict — and it’s left his family more frustrated than relieved.
The district and sessions judge Malkhan Singh convicted constable Prashant Chaudhary of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under IPC 304(2), a lesser charge than the murder count he originally faced. His co-accused, constable Sandeep Kumar, walked free entirely, acquitted of the lesser charge of voluntarily causing hurt that had been brought against him. The court will announce sentencing on September 21.
The case dates back to the early hours of September 29, 2018. Tiwari, a resident of New Hyderabad colony, was driving a former colleague, Sana Siddiqui, home in his SUV when the two were flagged down near a police outpost in Gomti Nagar Extension by Chaudhary and Kumar, who were on a motorbike. When Siddiqui rolled down her window to ask what was going on, Kumar allegedly struck her with his baton. Tiwari didn’t stop the car — and moments later, prosecutors say, Chaudhary drew his service pistol and fired.
The bullet hit Tiwari roughly half a kilometer down the road, and his vehicle crashed into a divider. The two officers fled the scene. Siddiqui called the police control room for help and rushed Tiwari to Lohia Hospital, where he died during treatment. An FIR was filed against both constables the next day, and a chargesheet followed that December.
For Tiwari’s family, the verdict reopens old wounds without providing the closure they’d hoped for. His widow, Kalpana, didn’t hide her disappointment after the ruling, saying the family had spent the day waiting anxiously for a judgment they believed would finally deliver justice. She questioned how a trained officer could claim his shot was accidental, and pushed back on Kumar’s acquittal, arguing both men were at the scene and should share responsibility for what happened. Through the family’s lawyer, Pranshu Agarwal, they’ve signaled plans to appeal to the Allahabad High Court once the detailed judgment is made available.
The human toll of the case has played out quietly over eight years. Tiwari’s two daughters — now 15 and 20 — were just 7 and 12 when he died. The younger one was initially told her father was simply away in Delhi and would be back soon; she has since learned the truth, and her older sister has often had to comfort her when the grief resurfaces. Kalpana, meanwhile, has continued working as an Officer on Special Duty with the Nagar Nigam while raising her daughters alone, describing a home where every corner still carries traces of the husband she lost.
The case became a flashpoint in 2018 for questions around police accountability and use of force, and Thursday’s verdict — welcomed by the convicted officers’ families but rejected by Tiwari’s — suggests the legal fight is far from over.
