Thane, Sep 1 (PTI) A man was acquitted in a double murder case by a Thane court which observed the prosecution failed to meet the ‘Panchsheel test’ for convictions based on circumstantial evidence.
The
court emphasised that the test requires that each circumstance be fully established, facts to be consistent only with the accused’s guilt, circumstances of a conclusive nature, exclusion of all other hypotheses and a complete chain of evidence.
Additional Sessions Judge VL Bhosale, in the order of August 19, details of which were made available on Monday, granted Kallu Raju alias Mahabharat Yadav, a waiter at a bar, benefit of the doubt saying the prosecution failed to establish complete and conclusive chain of evidence.
Yadav was accused of murder, causing disappearance of evidence and other offences after a case was registered on June 5, 2020 following the discovery of bodies of two persons, manager Harish Shetty and cleaner Naresh Pandit, in underground water tank of the bar he worked.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, the accused had been residing at the hotel along with the victims, as per the prosecution, which relied heavily on circumstantial evidence and presented 12 witnesses to support its claims.
The accused was allegedly the last person seen with the victims, a mobile phone and spade were recovered based on his disclosure and had absconded following the incident, as per the prosecution.
Medical testimony from Dr. Rahul Jedge confirmed the deaths were homicidal, caused by multiple chop wounds consistent with a sharp-edged weapon but, under cross-examination, he conceded the injuries could have been inflicted by more than one person, weakening the prosecution’s theory.
The five-day gap between the victims being last seen and the discovery of their bodies undermined the “last seen” theory, leaving room for third-party involvement. PTI COR BNM
