Mumbai: After spending six years in jail—a year short of the maximum sentence for the charge of destruction of evidence—a sessions court this week acquitted a 66-year-old former watchman arrested allegedly for helping a co-accused conceal a woman’s body inside a shipping container in a Chembur godown. The prosecution alleged that Mansingh Mohta assisted an absconding accused, Chandrakami alias Chandu Singh, in hiding the remains of Nepal national Durga Khadka (52) after she was strangled to death in 2021.The judge ruled the prosecution failed to give sufficient evidence linking Mohta to the crime or proving he had exclusive access to the disposal site.On June 5, 2021, at a godown in Anwar Compound, Chembur, a worker noticed a foul smell emanating from a container and found the body wrapped in a blue tarpaulin sheet. The godown belonged to a cargo handling company. Mohta had quit his job a month before. Medical evidence showed the victim died due to strangulation and the body was in three parts with both upper limbs separated. The police found the victim used to visit the place where Chandu Singh resided and two months prior to the murder they had quarrelled. It was alleged Singh throttled and killed the victim. It was further alleged that Mohta helped Singh conceal the body. He was arrested on June 7, 2021.The judge said, “…the evidence… shows that there were a number of warehouses and garages in the Anwar Compound. Many people must be entering that area. Therefore, it was incumbent upon the prosecution to show that no other person except the accused had exclusive access to the container in which the dead body was found. But the prosecution failed to do so,” Principal Judge S S Adkar said. The maximum sentence for the charge is seven years in jail.The judge also observed the prosecution could not establish the exact date of the murder or prove Mohta was even on duty during the period the crime likely occurred. While the prosecution relied on a disclosure statement where Mohta allegedly pointed out the container, the court found this evidence redundant. “The IO (investigating officer) had visited that spot on June 5, 2021 and prepared the spot panchanama on that day itself. Thus, on June 12, 2021 the IO already knew that place. Therefore, the above evidence will not help the prosecution in proving the guilt of the accused,” the judge said. The judgment noted the lack of physical evidence connecting Mohta to the victim, as chemical analyser reports showed no blood or tissue in the nail clippings of the deceased. The judge observed that the primary requirement for a conviction is the specific intent to protect an offender. “The fact that the concealment was likely to have that effect is not sufficient, for Section 201 (destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code) speaks of intention as distinct from a mere likelihood,” the judge noted. The investigating officer has been directed to file a separate chargesheet against the absconding co-accused as and when an arrest is made.
