Mumbai sessions courts acquits man in 5-year-old murder case

The court noted that the evidence was not enough to determine the identity of the deceased.

The sessions court in Dindoshi, last month, acquitted a man, and two others, who were accused of murder as the prosecution was not able to prove the identity of the deceased. The court noted that “no complete chain of circumstantial evidence” had been established.

The post-mortem suggested that the death was caused by strangulation. (File pic for representation)

Shambahadur Yadav, 34, Mohankumar Kurai, 22, and Pramodkumar Verma, 31 had been charged with the murder of Ghanshyam Vishwakarma. The prosecutor alleged that Shambahadur killed Vishwakarma by choking him and threw his body in a nalla with the help of Kurai and Verma.

The case dates back to September 20, 2012, when a body was recovered from the nalla at Bhajiwadi, Poisar by the Samta Nagar police. It was identified as that of Vishwakarma owing to a tattoo, which according to the police read ‘GMV’, on the right wrist. Investigation revealed that Vishwakarma’s wife Rekha on September 19 had filed a missing complaint which referred to the tattoo on the right wrist.

The post-mortem suggested that the death was caused by strangulation.

According to the Investigating Officer, Shambahadur was in a relationship with Vishwakarma’s wife Rekha. He used to give tuition classes to Rekha’s sister’s and their neighbour’s children.

The prosecutor claimed that Shambahadur sought revenge as Vishwakarma had scolded him. The prosecutor further claimed that Rekha had borrowed money from Shambahadur, and hence he was coercing her into a sexual relationship.

During the trial, the defence brought into question the identity of the body. Rekha, in her deposition, stated that during the identification of the body, she did not have the chance to look at the tattoo. Those who conducted the post-mortem had also denied that there had been any identifiable scars on the body. Vishwakarma’s son Vinay, in his deposition, had said that his father was not bald unlike the body. Moreover, no DNA test had been conducted to definitively prove the identity of the deceased.

“The son Vinay has categorically deposed that his father was not bald. There are discrepancies regarding the tattoo and no DNA test was conducted. No evidence has been produced to prove that Ghansham returned back to the house till date,” the court observed.