Man Cleared In 2019 Bhayander Murder-Suicide Case As Thane Court Cites Doubt
A Thane court acquitted a man in the 2019 Bhayander murder-suicide case, citing lack of evidence and absence of eyewitnesses in the alleged stabbing of a woman.
Thane, Aug 8 (PTI) A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has acquitted a 42-year-old man, who was accused of stabbing a woman to death and attempting suicide in 2019, citing that the prosecution had failed to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Principal District and Sessions Judge S B Agrawal on Wednesday acquitted Kundan Harekrishan Aacharya, booked under sections 302 (murder) and 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
A copy of the order was made available on Friday.
The prosecution has alleged that on the afternoon of October 22, 2019, Aacharya attacked the victim, Ankita Rawal, with a knife at his shop in Bhayander East, and then attempted to take his own life by slitting his throat.
It contended that Aacharya and Rawal were having an affair, and he had insisted on marrying her.
The defence, however, argued that it was Rawal who first attacked Aacharya and then killed herself, and no one had witnessed what transpired inside the shop.
Judge Agrawal noted that the prosecution's case rested solely on circumstantial evidence, as there were no eyewitnesses to the incident inside the shop, and pointed out that the accused did not dispute his presence at the scene but offered an alternative version of events.
He further cited that the deceased woman's father did not corroborate the love affair narrative, and only stated that the accused harassed his daughter for marriage, while the mother had changed her previous statement to the police about the affair and claimed that the victim was threatened.
The court also noted that medical officer Dr Rohit Singh, who treated Aacharya's neck injury, admitted that the wound could have been inflicted by a third person, while the doctor, who conducted the post-mortem, did not find any defensive injuries on the victim.
It concluded that the prosecution failed to prove its case "beyond a reasonable doubt." "It is not made out beyond a reasonable doubt that it was the accused who assaulted victim first and then injured himself, or anything else happened within those four walls," the judge said.
(This report has been published as part of an auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
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