AURANGABAD:
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High court on Wednesday acquitted
two persons, who were sentenced to death and life imprisonment,
respectively, for the murder of a medical officer in Jalgaon in
post-mortem room of the civil hospital in March 2012. The court has also
acquitted the jeweller, who had bought jewellery of the medical officer
from the three accused.
The three accused, one of whom later turned approver, were also accused of burning the body of the medical officer, Vijaya Chaudhari, in a crematorium before stealing ornaments.
According to prosecution, Chaudhari was on a 24-hour duty beginning 8 am of March 12, 2012. She came home around 1 pm to have lunch. Since, she had to attend a function in the evening, she wore jewellery including necklace, four gold bangles, beside routine ornaments.
When she didn't return home till 9 am on March 13, her husband, Arvind Chaudhari, went to the civil hospital to inquire about her whereabouts. He was informed that Vijaya had performed post mortem around 3 pm on March 12 and since then her whereabouts were not known.
Subsequently, Arvind went to the hotel where his wife was to attend the function on March 12. He was informed that she didn't attend the function and her cell phone too was out of reach. Arvind lodged a missing complaint with the police.
Following a tip-off, the police arrested three private ambulance drivers - Yuvaraj Kashinath Sable, 28, Maruti Sadanshiv, 20, and Gulab Pammandas Bhagwani, 25, who were assigned by the Jalgaon civic body to disposing of the unclaimed bodies at the Neri Naka crematorium.
The trio had killed Vijaya with the intent of robbing the ornaments and burnt her body. After looting the ornaments, they had sold the jewellery to Maheshkumar Verma and his wife Premlata Verma. The police arrested all the five, of whom, Gulab Bhagwani turned approver and narrated the sequence of events involving murder and robbery and disposal of the medical officer's body at the Neri Naka crematorium.
Following the trail, on December 18, 2013, additional sessions judge P D Ambekar had awarded death sentence to Yvaraj and life imprisonment to Pankaj and two year RI to the jeweller and had acquitted his wife Premlata.
Since the capital punishment has to be confirmed by the high court, the case was referred to the Aurangabad bench, while Yuvaraj and Pankaj filed criminal appeal against their conviction through lawyer Rajendra Deshmukh. The jeweller also filed an appeal before the high court through lawyer Vijay Sharma.
Following the arguments, the division bench comprising Justice S S Shinde and Justice V L Achliya had on September 30, 2014 reserved the criminal appeals for judgment, which they pronounced on Wednesday. While acquitting the three of the respective charges, the bench observed that the approver's evidence is not trustworthy and no other corroborating evidence was brought up by the prosecution on record to support the testimony of the approver. The court also held that prosecution has failed to prove guilt of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt, said Rajendra Deshmukh.
Deshmukh said that Yuvaraj is in Pune prison while Pankaj is in Dhule jail. "The court has also ordered them to be released immediately if they are not required in any other criminal case," Deshmukh said.
The three accused, one of whom later turned approver, were also accused of burning the body of the medical officer, Vijaya Chaudhari, in a crematorium before stealing ornaments.
According to prosecution, Chaudhari was on a 24-hour duty beginning 8 am of March 12, 2012. She came home around 1 pm to have lunch. Since, she had to attend a function in the evening, she wore jewellery including necklace, four gold bangles, beside routine ornaments.
When she didn't return home till 9 am on March 13, her husband, Arvind Chaudhari, went to the civil hospital to inquire about her whereabouts. He was informed that Vijaya had performed post mortem around 3 pm on March 12 and since then her whereabouts were not known.
Subsequently, Arvind went to the hotel where his wife was to attend the function on March 12. He was informed that she didn't attend the function and her cell phone too was out of reach. Arvind lodged a missing complaint with the police.
Following a tip-off, the police arrested three private ambulance drivers - Yuvaraj Kashinath Sable, 28, Maruti Sadanshiv, 20, and Gulab Pammandas Bhagwani, 25, who were assigned by the Jalgaon civic body to disposing of the unclaimed bodies at the Neri Naka crematorium.
The trio had killed Vijaya with the intent of robbing the ornaments and burnt her body. After looting the ornaments, they had sold the jewellery to Maheshkumar Verma and his wife Premlata Verma. The police arrested all the five, of whom, Gulab Bhagwani turned approver and narrated the sequence of events involving murder and robbery and disposal of the medical officer's body at the Neri Naka crematorium.
Following the trail, on December 18, 2013, additional sessions judge P D Ambekar had awarded death sentence to Yvaraj and life imprisonment to Pankaj and two year RI to the jeweller and had acquitted his wife Premlata.
Since the capital punishment has to be confirmed by the high court, the case was referred to the Aurangabad bench, while Yuvaraj and Pankaj filed criminal appeal against their conviction through lawyer Rajendra Deshmukh. The jeweller also filed an appeal before the high court through lawyer Vijay Sharma.
Following the arguments, the division bench comprising Justice S S Shinde and Justice V L Achliya had on September 30, 2014 reserved the criminal appeals for judgment, which they pronounced on Wednesday. While acquitting the three of the respective charges, the bench observed that the approver's evidence is not trustworthy and no other corroborating evidence was brought up by the prosecution on record to support the testimony of the approver. The court also held that prosecution has failed to prove guilt of the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt, said Rajendra Deshmukh.
Deshmukh said that Yuvaraj is in Pune prison while Pankaj is in Dhule jail. "The court has also ordered them to be released immediately if they are not required in any other criminal case," Deshmukh said.
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