Thane court acquits 12 in murder of jewellery shop employee

A Thane court has acquitted 12 persons allegedly involved in the murder of a jewellery shop employee two years ago observing that the prosecution could not prove the charges against them reported news agency PTIIn his order the Additional Sessions Judge AS Bhagwat gave the benefit of doubt to the dozen accused who had also been booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities ActA copy of the Thane court order dated June 14 was made available on WednesdayAccording to the prosecution victim Krushna Padaram Tusamand 30 was a sweeper in a jewellery shop in the Bhayander area reported PTIOn May 7 2022 the shop owner and other accused tied Tusamand to a window and brutally thrashed him on suspicion of theft Tusamand died due to the assault the prosecution saidOn a complaint by Tusamands father the police booked the jewellery shop owner and 11 others for murder reported PTIWhile advocates Rajan Salunke and Sameer Hatle who represented the accused contested the charges pressed against their clients 12 prosecution witnesses turned hostile during the trial reported PTIIn his order the judge relied on Tusamands postmortem report which said that the injuries suffered by the victim might have been due to a fall from a moving vehicle to give relief to the accused reported PTIPointing to gaps in the prosecutions theory the Thane court said it could not prove the seizure of the weapons from the accused while one of the investigation officers was not examined The prosecution also could not prove that the victim belonged to the SC or ST category the court saidIn another case a court in Maharashtras Thane district has rejected the bail application of a 32yearold doctor arrested for allegedly raping a woman after promising to marry her reported PTITampering of evidence is possible in case of grant of bail during pendency of the investigation it saidHence to my mind looking at the stage of the investigation seriousness of the offence and facts of the case no case for grant of bail is made out Additional Sessions Judge Premal S Vithalani said in the order on June 11 a copy of which was made available on Tuesday reported PTIEvery bail application needs to be decided by considering facts and circumstances of the particular case There cannot be a straitjacket formula while granting or rejecting bail applications he saidAs per the prosecution the doctor and the 27yearold woman became friends in 2017 and he proposed marriage in 2020She approached police in April 2024 following which an FIR was registered against him for rape and criminal intimidation reported PTIOn April 24 the court rejected the prearrest bail plea of the doctor and he was arrested on May 7The prosecution opposed the doctors bail plea alleging he exploited the informant under the false promise of marriage and used threats to coerce her into sexual relations reported PTIThe court reviewed the evidence including mobile phone records and an audio recording submitted by the informants counselWith inputs from PTI