Thane 2020 murder case: Court acquits speech-impaired woman accused citing inconsistencies in evidence

A court in Maharashtrarsquos Thane district has acquitted a speechimpaired woman accused in 2020 murder case citing serious inconsistencies in the evidence presented by the prosecutionThe judgment delivered on April 8 and made available on Friday stated that the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubtThe 48yearold accused Kamal Chandrakant Kanoja a resident of Vikramgad in Palghar district was charged with pouring kerosene on Amita Gotarna and setting her on fire on October 27 2020 that allegedly led to her death according to the PTIThe deceased was her wouldbe daughterinlaw the news agency reportedThe victim who lived with the accused family suffered 72 per cent burns and later died at Nashik Civil HospitalContradictory dying declarationsThe case largely depended on two dying declarations made by the victim One statement recorded by police implicated the accused However another declaration recorded by a magistrate stated that the incident was accidental and mentioned that ldquonobody was presentrdquo at the timeThe court observed that these conflicting versions weakened the prosecutionrsquos case significantlyConcerns over witness influence and procedureThe defence argued that the dying declarations may have been influenced by interested witnesses including the victimrsquos father and brotherThe court also noted that the medical officer who allegedly certified the victim fit to give a statement was not examined during the trialEvidence found insufficientThe judge further observed that chemical analysis reports did not conclusively link the accused to the crime The possibility of the victim being influenced could not be ruled out the court saidConcluding that the prosecution had failed to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt the court ordered the immediate release of the accused womanThane court acquits eight accused of attempting to murder cop in 2016Meanwhile in an another case a court in Thane district of Maharashtra has acquitted eight men accused of attempting to murder a cop in 2016 citing the victimrsquos inability to identify the assailants and key prosecution witnesses turning hostile PTI reportedIn her judgment delivered on April 6 Additional Sessions Judge V L Bhosale granted the benefit of the doubt to the accused observing that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt A copy of the order was made available on WednesdayAccording to the prosecution police constable Bhaskar Sonavane was assaulted with sticks and beer bottles outside a bar in the cityrsquos Upvan area on April 21 2016As per the news agency the attack allegedly stemmed from a dispute between the hotel management and a customer named Kamlesh whose brother Arun reportedly led a group of 1015 people to the spotSonavane who was at the location to meet an informant suffered a skull fracture and brain injuries in the assault the court was told during the trialAccording to PTI the eight accused had been facing charges of attempted murder under the Indian Penal CodeVictim fails to identify his attackersThe court noted that the constable was unable to identify any of the accused as the assailants as the incident took place at night and he lost consciousness after being struck on the headAdditionally hotel partner Rajesh Shetty and manager Naveen Gouda the original complainant turned hostile the judge observedldquoHaving regard to all the evidence on record I find that the prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused persons committed the offencesrdquo the court said acquitting all eight accused PTI reportedwith PTI inputs