While setting aside a sessions court order, the Bombay high court quashed all criminal charges and acquitted two accused arrested for their alleged involvement in a murder case. The
two accused, who were convicted for murdering a man in Pune, were lodged in the Yerawada Jail.
A division bench comprising Justices P.V. Hardas and Revati Mohite-Dere, while pronouncing the judgment said, “There is absolutely no evidence which would in any manner, establish that the appellants were the assailants. There is not a shred of evidence that would establish the complicity of the appellants as the assailants. The conviction of the appellants, therefore, is based on ‘no evidence’. We, therefore, find that the appeal filed by the appellants deserves to be allowed.”
The police had arrested 24-year-old Umesh Shankar Jaigude and 21-year-old Dinesh Shankar Jaigude on June 7, 2011. According to the police, during their interrogation, the duo had expressed willingness to point out the weapons used in the crime. After the completion of investigations, the police filed a chargesheet and on examination of statements of 10 witnesses, the sessions court convicted and sentenced the duo under Sections 302, 307, 511, 452, 506 read with Section 34 of the Idian Penal Code.
The Bombay high court, however, observed that on cross examination of witnesses, nothing of substance has been elicited. It also observed that according to the forensic reports, there was human blood on the weapons recovered, but the blood group couldn’t be fathomed.
In addition, apart from the solitary substance that the weapon, there is no other evidence warranting the conviction of the accused.