Thane court acquits eight accused of attempting to murder cop in 2016

A court in Thane district of Maharashtra has acquitted eight men accused of attempting to murder a cop in 2016 citing the victimrsquos inability to identify the assailants and key prosecution witnesses turning hostile PTI reportedIn her judgment delivered on April 6 Additional Sessions Judge V L Bhosale granted the benefit of the doubt to the accused observing that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt A copy of the order was made available on WednesdayAccording to the prosecution police constable Bhaskar Sonavane was assaulted with sticks and beer bottles outside a bar in the cityrsquos Upvan area on April 21 2016The caseAs per the news agency the attack allegedly stemmed from a dispute between the hotel management and a customer named Kamlesh whose brother Arun reportedly led a group of 1015 people to the spotSonavane who was at the location to meet an informant suffered a skull fracture and brain injuries in the assault the court was told during the trialAccording to PTI the eight accused had been facing charges of attempted murder under the Indian Penal CodeVictim fails to identify his attackersThe court noted that the constable was unable to identify any of the accused as the assailants as the incident took place at night and he lost consciousness after being struck on the headAdditionally hotel partner Rajesh Shetty and manager Naveen Gouda the original complainant turned hostile the judge observedldquoHaving regard to all the evidence on record I find that the prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused persons committed the offencesrdquo the court said acquitting all eight accused PTI reportedThane court awards life term to brothers for killing man over liquor rowEarlier a court in Thane district sentenced two men to life imprisonment for the murder of a fellow labourer following a drunken brawl nine years ago reported news agency PTIIn the order passed on March 18 Additional Sessions Judge R S Bhakare convicted Ashok Laljitkumar Chaurasiya 39 and his elder brother Kamleshkumar 53 under sections 302 murder and 34 common intention of the Indian Penal Code IPC and sentenced themThe court also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on each convictThe incident had occurred on the night of May 20 2017 in a garden in the Mira Road area where the accused the deceased Rajendra alias Rajan Meshram and another person named Biru Netam were consuming liquorThe prosecution said an argument began when Biru demanded more liquor from Ashok This led to a scuffle during which the accused duo repeatedly assaulted Rajendra on the head with a log of wood While Rajendra succumbed to his injuries Biru was also injured in the attackThe court relied on circumstantial evidence medical reports and forensic findings as the informant and the injured witness could not be traced for testimony during the trialWith PTI inputs