Three acquitted in NCP worker murder case

MUMBAI: The city court has acquitted three accused in the murder case of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) worker Baban Pakhare for lack of evidence.
    
Additional Sessions Court Judge K P Purohit, in his ruling early this week, set free the trio as there was no eye- witness to the incident and the other evidences were not strong enough to prove the guilt beyond doubt.
    
The police had arrested the three - Nangappa Dharmaraj Wadiyar - a rickshaw driver, Ganesh Ramanna Shetty - a daily wage labourer and Ganesh Murty Arunchal - a contractor, only on the basis of choppers recovered allegedly at the instance of one of the accused.
    
Pakhare was found dead on May 22 last year with multiple injuries on his body near Mysore Colony in suburban Chembur.
    
As per the police case, the three had a scuffle with Pakhare a few days ago over the laying of a pipeline in the area and they killed him out of animosity.
    
The police, in their chargesheet, also showed recovery of choppers at the instance of Wadiyar.
    
It later came to light that after the scuffle about the pipeline, both the parties - Pakhare and the three accused - had filed police complaints against each other.
    
"There was not even a witness from the eight examined, who had seen the accused with the deceased last time," said defence lawyer Khan Abdul Wahab.
    
The only evidence left were two spot witnesses who were present during the recovery of choppers. In court, while one spot witness said there was recovery at the instance of the accused, the other contradicted this.