Eight acquitted in jewellery shop robbery case

A minor goof-up in an identification parade, ended up in the acquittal of eight persons, accused of robbing a jewellery shop in broad daylight.

A sessions court today acquitted the accused, arrested for robbing jewellery worth Rs53 lakh, after the defence pointed out discrepancies on the part of the police during test identification parade of the accused.

According to the police, on February 17, 2007, four persons — Ganesh Sarvagaud, Nagesh Karande, Satish Pote and Rakesh Vyangan allegedly broke into Netra Jewellers and decamped with jewellery.

Four others Rajesh Varlekar, Rajesh Rai, Sunil Takerkar and Manish Prajapati were accused of conspiring and aiding the crime.

During the trial, defence lawyers, however, pointed out discrepancies in the identification parade.

"All four accused were identified in the same parade. According to law, no more than two accused can be identified in the same parade," defence lawyer Jayesh Vithlani said.

Two panch witnesses also failed to identify the accused in court.

Additional sessions judge NP Dhote today acquitted all the eight accused.