A special court here on Saturday acquitted former Maharashtra home minister Padamsinh Patil and seven others in the 2006 murder of his cousin and Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar as well as his driver, saying the prosecution failed to prove the chain of conspiracy.
It also said the testimony of the prosecution's prime witness was unreliable as there were contradictions in his statements.
The court came down heavily on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which probed the case, for failing to gather crucial digital evidence, such as the mobile phones or call detail records (CDRs) of the accused in such a high profile murder case.
Holding that the chain of conspiracy was not proven, special CBI court judge Satyanarayan Navandar acquitted all eight accused in the case.
The judge started reading out the verdict by remarking that it was a deeply tragic incident, and said the court can only deliver a judgment within the framework of the law.
The prosecution had heavily relied primarily on the testimony of the accused-turned-approver Parasmal Jain's testimony. However, the court found his testimony doubtful and discarded it.
The chain of circumstantial evidence is not complete. The prosecution tried to thread it with the testimony of approver, but the thread itself was so weak, the court said.
The judge found his evidence to be completely unreliable.
He had been kept in illegal custody by the police for a significant period. There were so many contradictions in his statements that led to the collapse of the prosecution's entire story, the court said.
The judge criticised the prosecution for recording approver's evidence in a "mechanical manner" and not making an effort to bring all the details on record.
Patil (85), a former MP of the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and stepbrother of Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, and seven other accused faced the murder trial.
Pawanraje Nimbalkar's son Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar is currently a Lok Sabha member from the Shiv Sena (UBT).
On June 3, 2006, Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver, Samad Kazi, were on their way from Mumbai to Osmanabad (now Dharashiv). Two hitmen intercepted their car at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai and opened fire, killing both on the spot.
The Navi Mumbai police initially probed the case, but the Bombay High Court later transferred it to the CBI after Pawanraje Nimbalkar's wife expressed dissatisfaction over the progress of the investigation.
Patil was arrested in June 2009 after the central probe agency took over the case, but a sessions court in Alibaug in Raigad district granted him bail in September that year.
Besides Patil, the other accused in the case included a Latur based businessman Satish Mandade, a retired state excise inspector Mohan Shukla and others -- Dinesh Tiwari, Mahatam Chaudhary alias Pintu Chaudhary, Kailash Yadav, Gyanendra Pandey alias Dhirendra Pandey alias Chhote Pandey, and Shashikant Kulkarni.
According to the CBI, Patil, the prime accused in the case, is alleged to have hatched the criminal conspiracy and paid the contract money to eliminate his cousin Pawanraje Nimbalkar due to intense political and business rivalry.
The prosecution alleged that Parasmal Jain had initially accepted the contract of Rs 30 lakh from Mohan Shukla and Satish Mandade to kill Pawanraje Nimbalkar. He was later granted a pardon and turned approver against the other accused.
The case trial began in July 2011. During the 15-year-long trial, the special court examined as many as 128 witnesses, including anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare.
Hazare's name came up in the case after Jain's confession that Patil had simultaneously given a contract to eliminate the activist.
The activist had testified about receiving threats from Patil.
After the verdict was announced, Padamsinh Patil's son Ranajagjitsinh Patil, who is BJP MLA from Tuljapur in Dharashiv district, said his father was suffering from various age-related ailments and was not told about the verdict on Saturday.
They had told the former MP that he was being taken to court to mark his attendance, he said.
The victims' side lawyer said that injustice has been done and they will file an appeal before the high court.
The CBI said it will move the Bombay High Court against the acquittal of the accused.
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