Unsatisfied by the judgment that acquitted Chitralekha's alleged killers, mother has approached the court, yet again

Fight for justice will continue

Unsatisfied by the judgment that acquitted Chitralekha's alleged killers, mother has approached the court, yet again

The appeal that is expected to come before the bench tomorrow, would challenge the verdict of the lower court that had acquitted Bharathi Urs, daughter of former chief minister Devraj Urs and two of her associates in the sensational Chitralekha Urs murder case citing lack of evidence in May.

Bharathi Urs, Chandrakanth and Madhukumar who were acquitted in Chandralekha Raj Urs murder case by a fast track court in the city. Chitralekha Urs

Chitralekha, a distant relative of Bharathi, was the daughter of the former Karnataka High Court Judge MP Chandrakantaraje Urs.

The appeal filed by senior advocate Navkesh Batra on behalf of Sharada Urs contended that the trial court acquitted the accused on the basis of erroneous complicated reasoning to reject the clinching evidence against the accused, and passed remarks against the investigating officer stating that the evidence appeared to be a combination of formalities and exaggerations.

u00a0Citing few examples in the judgment, the appeal said that the court's judgment was also based on the mention of Chitralekha's car number by her sister Nayantara in her missing complaint as KAO4 instead of KAO3. The trial court has also blamed the prosecution to fail to identify the location of the mobile towers to ascertain the presence of the accused and the victim.

The then investigating officer, former ACP BK Shivram, had termed the case as fit for conviction. "If this case gets an acquittal, I doubt no other case would get a conviction," he had reacted after the judgment.

Judge Amaranarayana had acquitted Bharathi, T Madhukar and LN Chandrakanth who were charged with abducting Chitralekha from the Palm Grove Nursery owned by Hari Khoday on January 19, 2004. Bharathi's decomposed body was found in the Shiradi Ghats on March 9, 2004.

The then Investigating officer BK Shivram who prepared a 900 page charge sheet said Bharathi had hatched a criminal conspiracy to eliminate Chitralekha, who had mediated to get her a Rs 70-lakh loan.

It said Bharathi allegedly arranged a meeting with Chitralekha at the Palm Grove Nursery where her aides, Madhukar and Chandrakanth, strangulated her and dumped her body in the ghats.

The arrest of the two men led to the body. Chitralekha's jewellery was recovered from Chandrakanth's house. The police recovered the cheques and promissory notes signed by Bharathi.

CV Mahesh, counsel for Bharathi Urs said that it is the right of any party to file an appeal. He, however, made it clear that there is nothing strange in an aggrieved party preferring an appeal before the court in case of an acquittal.

In December 2009, a new amendment to the CRPC came into effect wherein any aggrieved party can file an appeal before the court in a criminal matter before the state government. This, however, does not bar the state from filing an appeal.

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