Mumbai: 58-Year-Old Man Acquitted After 31 Years As Victim Fails To Identify Him In 1991 Attempted Murder Case

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The sessions court acquitted a 58-year-old man booked for charges of the attempt to murder in 1991. After 31 years he walked free from the court as the victim of the attack failed to recognise him and the pistol used in the crime.

The sessions court last week acquitted Raju Chiknya alias Vilas Balaram Pawar was accused of part of the gang which fired at the husband of the complainant on August 12, 1991 over old enmity. The case was registered with Deonar police station.

While acquitting the man the sessions judge RD Sawant observed that “the prosecution case may be true, but it has failed to travel the distance between ‘may be true’ and ‘must be true’ on the point of identity and involvement of accused. Prosecution has not proved the identity of the accused itself.”

The police had arrested Pawar, represented by advocate Sameer Pradhan on October 22, 1992. Two years later Pawar was granted bail on July 14, 1994 and absconded from May 1996. After 31 years Pawar was traced and arrested by the Mumbai police on January 3.

As per the case lodged by Mariambi Shaikh, she resided in Govandi with her husband and three children. She knew one Ganesh Thakur since her childhood and that he was into criminal activities such as extortion. She claimed that Thakur and her mother had quarrelled with her mother and for which he had also attacked her mother with a sword.

On August 12, 1991 at around 11, Thakur along with other accused had entered her house when her husband Shaukatali was taking his meal. They fired at him and ran away. He was rushed to hospital and was under treatment. The prosecution claimed that Pawar was part of the gang that entered the house with Thakur.

After his rearrest, Pawar was put to trial. The trial commenced on February 5, wherein the prosecution managed to trace the Shaikh couple and examined them. Shaukatali in his testimony narrated the incident but failed to identify the accused and the pistol used for the crime. He could only identify his own clothes. Mariambi also failed to identify the accused and also denied having known Thakur ever. Hence for want of evidence the sessions court acquitted the man.