The court, in 125-page order, has observed that the photographer, who had taken pictures of the crime scene, has neither been examined, nor the pictures he has taken, were brought on record.
The sessions court, which had last month acquitted four youngsters, accused of killing their friend Adnan Patrawala, has come down heavily on the police for not examining certain crucial witnesses in the case.
The court, in 125-page order, has observed that the photographer, who had taken pictures of the crime scene, has neither been examined, nor the pictures he has taken, were brought on record.
The court also observed that the finger-print expert's report had not been produced before the court, as also the call details of some witnesses not produced to show that they were in a certain area, where they witnessed the incriminating act of the accused.
The court also observed that though there was evidence to conclude that Adnan's death was a homicide, if further said that this alone was not enough and it gave benefit of doubt to the accused.
The sessions court has let off the four accused -Sujit Nair, Ayush Bhat, Rajeev Dharaiya and Amit Kaushal -(aged between 25 and 31), on grounds of lack of evidence and prosecution's failure to prove the charges against them. The fifth accused, a juvenile, is being tried by the Juvenile Justice Board.
The prosecution's case was that 16-year-old Adnan, son of a businessman in suburban Andheri, was allegedly kidnapped by these five youths on August 19, 2007 after he went to meet them at a gaming parlour in Inorbit Mall in Malad in his father's Skoda car.
Having befriended Adnan through a social networking site, Orkut, they then asked Adnan to drive with them to suburban Kandivli. They allegedly spiked a drink he was made to have.
Later, they strangled him to death in Navi Mumbai after their plan to extort Rs.2 crore as ransom went awry as the news of the kidnapping broke on TV and police launched a manhunt for them, it said. Subsequently, Patrawala's body was found in his car on Palm Beach Road in Vashi.
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