Maharashtra: Court acquits five in case of attempt to murder

THANE: A Thane court has acquitted five persons, including a bar manager and three other employees, in a 2013 case of attempt to murder and culpable homicide, saying the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them.

District and Additional Sessions Judge P P Jadhav passed the order on February 10 and a copy of it was made available on February 17.

Additional Public Prosecutor Vivek Kadu told the court that a car driven by one of the accused (who was not a bar employee) ran over a man on the night of September 25, 2013 outside a bar in Azad Nagar area of Maharashtra's Thane city.

The victim received serious injuries and died while undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Later, the police filed supplementary charges, alleging that the bar manager and three other employees beat up the victim and threw him out of the bar where he got hit by the car and died.

After the incident, the four bar staffers allegedly helped the car driver escape from the spot as a large number of locals gathered there to protest against the man's death, the police said.

However, the five accused, who were booked under various Indian Penal Code Sections, including 307 (attempt to murder) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), claimed they had been falsely implicated in the crime.

After hearing both sides, the judge said at one point it has been alleged that a car hit the victim while he was crossing the road and later, another story has been "cooked up" against the accused.

Also, the prosecution witnesses are close relatives of the deceased and their evidence also contradictory to the original complaint.

Under such circumstances, their evidence is certainly not reliable, the judge said.

There is nothing on record to show one of the accused drove the carina rash and negligent manner and that the vehicle ran over the victim.

There is also no evidence to show that the four other accused helped him escape from the spot.

To conclude, nothing is proved against any of the accused beyond reasonable doubt, the judge said in the order.