Thane: Court acquits six men charged under MCOCA in armed robbery case

Representational Image

A special court in Thane district acquitted six persons charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for allegedly robbing a doctor's house at gunpoint in Navi Mumbai, reported news agency PTI.

Special (MCOCA) judge Amit M Shete in an order dated August 8 held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the accused beyond reasonable doubts and hence they need to be set free. The court kept in abeyance the case relating to the seventh accused Vinodkumar Jain who is named in the FIR and who is still absconding, reported PTI.

According to PTI, the court acquitted Ganesh Mohan Vishwakarma (37), Damarsingh alias Viraj Mohan Vishwakarma (30), Vinod Kishore Vaishnav (38), Rony Jerome Lobo (38), Asiruddin Badrudin alias Takdiruddin Khan (31) and Himmat Suraj Singh (29).

Special public prosecutor Sanjay More informed the court that on the night of December 6, 2016, the accused entered a doctor's house in Belapur area of Navi Mumbai, pointed revolver and knife at the cook who was alone and decamped with valuables from the premises.

The judge noted that the witnesses and prosecution had failed to establish that Vaishnav and Khan were part of an organised crime syndicate and by hatching conspiracy with the other accused, they committed crimes.

The material produced in court was not enough to hold the accused guilty of any crime much less the alleged crime, the court said, reported PTI.

The prosecution examined 20 witnesses but could not prove the crime against the alleged accused persons, it was stated.

Meanwhile, a 30-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly stabbing his colleague to death in a dispute over Rs 500 in Navi Mumbai, police told PTI on Saturday.

The victim Vickey Chindaliya (27), a scrap collector, was found dead near Panvel railway station on August 8, inspector Anjum Bhagwan of the Panvel city police station told PTI.

Investigations revealed that the victim worked in the area near the railway station and lived there with a colleague, he said.

Based on several leads and CCTV footage from the scene, the police zeroed in on the victim's colleague Sachin Shinde and nabbed him from his hometown in Aurangabad district on Thursday, the official told PTI.

On interrogation, Shinde revealed that the victim owed him Rs 500 and the duo argued over it while consuming alcohol on the day of the murder, he said.

The accused allegedly stabbed the victim to death and fled the scene, the official told PTI.

In another incident, an offence has been registered against five persons associated with a real estate firm for allegedly cheating a man of Rs 5 crore in a land deal in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Saturday.

(With inputs from PTI)