Special public prosecutor says case was complex thanks to prime witness turning hostile
Out of the seven men arrested in 2013, six have been convicted by the Nashik District and Sessions Court on Monday on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy for killing three Dalit youths on January 1, 2013 in Sonai village of Ahmednagar district. The murder was the outcome of an inter-caste love affair between the daughter of the accused and one of the deceased person.
The court presided over by judge RR Vaishnav convicted Ramesh Dharandale, the girl's uncle; Prakash and Ganesh Dharandale, the girl's brothers; Sandeep Kurhe, the girl's cousin; Ashok Navgire, who used to work for Dharandale and was a friend of the deceased; and Popat Dharandale, the girl's father.
According to the police, they had received the bodies of Sandeep Raju Thanwar (26), Sachin Sohanlal Gharu (22) and Rahul Kandare (20) – all from the Mehter community — in pieces from a septic tank of a dry city well.
Special public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam, while describing the complexity of the case said, "It was a tough case for the prosecution to prove as it was purely based on circumstantial evidence. To add to it, the prime witness in the case — the girl involved in the relationship — had turned hostile. In her examination, she refuted the fact that she was in a relationship with Gharu." The prosecution examined a total of 54 witnesses in the case of which only one turned hostile. "The very fact that the girl went silent on my questions proved the prosecution's case," added Nikam. In his final arguments, Nikam said that the accused had committed three gruesome murders hence deserved nothing else but conviction.
According to the FIR, Gharu and his colleagues, who worked as sweepers, were summoned by the Dharandale family to their home on January 1, 2013 on pretext of cleaning their septic tank. When the youth did not return the next day, an intensive search was launched. The police found Gharu's decapitated body on the evening of January 2, 2013 while the mutilated bodies of Thanwar and Kandare were discovered on January 3.
FROM THE PAST
Khairlanji Case
September 29, 2006
Surekha Bhotmange, a female Dalit farmer, was killed along with her two sons and daughter in Khairlanji village in Bhandara district of Maharashtra. Eight persons were given life imprisonment.
Pal Case
February 23, 2009
Villagers allegedly tied a 20-year-old youth Rohidas Pandit Tupe Rohidas Pandit Tupe to an electric pole and stoned him to death for “attacking” a girl from their community in Pal village of Aurangabad district.
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