Agnelo Valdares case: Cops charged with murder

The special court had in its order said that “considering the entire material on record in the form of statements of witnesses, post-mortem examination report of deceased, copies of station diaries and seen of offence panchnama, reveals that prima facie it is the case where charge under Section 302 (murder), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of IPC can be framed.”

Mumbai: The accused cops – facing trial in connection with the custodial death of 25-year-old Agnelo Valdaris – have approached the Bombay high court against the order of the special court wherein it had directed adding charges for murder against the accused.

Agnelo allegedly died from torture in custody and an FIR was registered against concerned personnel attached to the Wadala GRP. (Getty Images)

The sessions judge, Jayshri R. Pulate, had on September 17, allowed the plea of Valdaris’ family to charge the eight accused cops for murder. The special court had in its order said that “considering the entire material on record in the form of statements of witnesses, post-mortem examination report of deceased, copies of station diaries and seen of offence panchnama, reveals that prima facie it is the case where charge under Section 302 (murder), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of IPC can be framed.”

The eight accused are – Jitendra Ramnarayan Rathod, Archana Maruti Pujari, Shatrugan Tondse, Tushar Khairnar, Ravindra Mane, Suresh Mane, Vikas Suryawanshi and Satyajit Kamble.

The accused police officers have in their defence maintained that it was a case of accidental death and not murder. The stand had, however, been rejected by the trial court, against which they have now approached HC.

Agnelo and three others were allegedly tortured and sexually abused by the Wadala Railway police station on April 18, 2014. The four boys were picked up by Wadala railway police from their residences on April 15 and April 16, 2014, on the charge of chain snatching.

Agnelo allegedly died from torture in custody and an FIR was registered against concerned personnel attached to the Wadala GRP. Following a plea by the Valdares family for transferring the case to a central agency, the HC transferred the case to CBI.