A Maharashtra`s Thane district court has acquitted two men charged with the murder of their neighbor in October 2020, holding that he died of natural causes, reported the PTI.

The prosecution failed to prove the charges against the suspects Gufran Yusufali Ansari (30) and Shahnawaz Mohammed Shafi Ansari (34) beyond a reasonable doubt, said judge S B Agrawal in the October 27 judgement, a copy of which became available on Friday.

The incident had taken place on October 8, 2020, at Sai Prasad Chawl in Mumbra near Thane district of Maharashtra.

As per the prosecution, Gulam Rasool Jamil Haq Shaikh, who ran a stove repair shop, objected to the dust generated by carpentry work done by the father of accused Gufran, who had a tailoring shop nearby, according to the PTI.

The quarrel led to an assault by Gufran on Shaikh in the morning, the prosecution claimed. Later, at around 8 PM, when Shaikh`s children questioned the accused, they abused the children and allegedly beat up Shaikh, causing his death.

But the court noted that none of the independent witnesses supported the prosecution`s case, and the doctor who examined the deceased concluded that he died of a heart attack.

“Apart from a single contusion, no injury was found on the deceased. Thus, it cannot be said that deceased died a homicidal death,” the judge said, as per the PTI.

“From all the aforesaid evidence, it is apparent that a petty quarrel is tried to be blown out of proportion by over implicating the accused persons only because of the death of the deceased due to heart attack immediately after the incident and as such, it cannot be said that prosecution has been successful in bringing home the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt,” the court said, acquitting both the me, the news agency reported.

In an another judgement earlier this month, a court in Maharashtra’s Thane district had acquitted four men accused of 2022 murder case of a man, citing that the prosecution had based the case entirely on circumstantial evidence, PTI had reported.

Principal District and Sessions Judge S B Agrawal acquitted the accused, Pravin Ramdas Jagtap, Rahul Virbhan Suryavanshi, Akshay Lahu Patil, and Ajinkya Ramdas Patil, of charges under sections 302 (murder), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 364 (abduction) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The order was passed by the court on October 17.

According to the prosecution, cousins Akshay Lahu Patil and Ajinkya Ramdas Patil had a long-running dispute with the victim, Mangesh Maruti Patil, over ancestral property and plans to open a beer shop. They allegedly hired Pravin Jagtap and Rahul Suryavanshi for Rs 50,000 to kill him, as per the PTI.

On April 13, 2022, Mangesh was allegedly lured with alcohol, strangled, and had his throat slit in the Murbad area. His body was recovered six days later, the prosecution claimed.

However, after hearing arguments from both sides, the court found that the prosecution’s evidence was inconclusive.

The judge noted that the alleged motive — the dispute over property and business — was vague and unsubstantiated, as per the PTI.

The court also observed that the victim’s family had not raised suspicion against the accused, despite several visits to the police station, and that the recovery of the body, weapon, and clothes was doubtful.

“This, by itself, creates doubt about these panchanamas, as well as the claim that the body and place were discovered at the instance of accused Pravin Jagtap. The recovery was further tainted by the admission that a police officer had informed others about the dead body a day before the official recovery,” the court stated, the news agency reported.

(with PTI inputs)

Source