Ghaywal, five others acquitted in 2019 jeep theft case

Special MCOCA judge SR Salunkhe acquitted Ghaywal, Santosh Anand Dhumal, Musab alias Musa Ilahi Shaikh, Akshay Dilip Gogawale, Vipul Uttam Mazire and Kunal Kailas Kandhare, citing lack of evidence connecting them to the alleged offence.

PUNE: Gangster Nilesh Ghaywal, who was declared an absconder by a Pune court in a separate case after allegedly fleeing to the UK, and five others were acquitted by a special MCOCA court on Tuesday in a 2019 case involving the alleged forcible theft of a jeep from a garage in Kothrud.

Ghaywal, five others acquitted in 2019 jeep theft case

Special MCOCA judge SR Salunkhe acquitted Ghaywal, Santosh Anand Dhumal, Musab alias Musa Ilahi Shaikh, Akshay Dilip Gogawale, Vipul Uttam Mazire and Kunal Kailas Kandhare, citing lack of evidence connecting them to the alleged offence, a delayed complaint and several prosecution witnesses not supporting the case.

The case was registered at Kothrud Police Station and involved charges, including dacoity, abetment, receiving stolen property, criminal intimidation and offences under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The court examined evidence from 21 prosecution witnesses.

According to the prosecution, a jeep (MH-12-JU-7344) was parked near the garage of informant Raj Chandrakant Kadam in Kothrud on September 10, 2019. Four persons allegedly approached Kadam and told him that Dhumal had sent them to take the jeep for a procession connected with Ghaywal. One of them allegedly brandished a chopper before the jeep was taken away.

However, the court found significant gaps in the prosecution case. The complaint was lodged on December 24, 2021, more than two years after the alleged incident. The court noted that the delay had not been adequately explained.

The court also placed weight on Kadam’s deposition. He did not support the prosecution’s version and denied that four persons had threatened him or forcibly taken the jeep. He told the court that police had taken him to the commissioner’s office, seized his mobile phone and obtained his signatures on blank papers. He also claimed to have complained about the police action before judicial and senior police authorities.

Other witnesses, including panch witnesses associated with the spot, voice-sample and recovery proceedings, also did not support the prosecution. A witness connected with the CCTV evidence likewise did not support the prosecution’s version.

The court held that there was no reliable evidentiary link between the accused and the vehicle. It also noted that the alleged CCTV footage had not been produced and proved in accordance with legal requirements.

Regarding Ghaywal, the court noted that he was in jail at the time of the alleged incident and found no evidence connecting him to the offence.

On the MCOCA charges, the court held that the prosecution had failed to establish that the accused were members of an organised crime syndicate or that the alleged incident was an act of such a syndicate.

“Merely because the accused have criminal antecedents, that by itself is not sufficient to hold them guilty for the alleged incident,” the judge observed.

The accused were represented by advocates Vipul Dushing (Dhumal and Ghaywal), Ritesh Gadade (Shaikh), Aanish Padekar (Gogawale), Salman Pathan (Mazire) and Bilal Maniyar (Kandhare).

The court concluded that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond the required standard and acquitted all six accused.