Pune: A 12-year-old murder trial involving a woman who was allegedly set ablaze by her neighbors has ended in the acquittal of all three accused. The prosecution’s case collapsed after every witness turned hostile and the investigating officer (IO) failed to testify despite repeated opportunities.Additional sessions judge A.S. Sayyad in Khed acquitted the trio of charges under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 504 (intentional insult), and 506 (criminal intimidation), observing that the prosecution failed to produce any incriminating evidence.The incident dates back to Nov 27, 2013, in Chakan. According to the prosecution, the victim was alone at her home when the accused—neighbours with whom her family had a long-standing dispute—allegedly restrained her, poured kerosene over her, and set her on fire.The victim initially lodged an FIR for attempted murder. However, she later succumbed to her burn injuries, and the charge was upgraded to murder.Though the Chakan police filed a chargesheet in June 2015, the legal process moved at a snail’s pace. Charges were only framed in Nov 2022, and the recording of evidence did not conclude until late 2023, nearly 12 years after the crime.During the trial, the prosecution’s case crumbled as both eyewitnesses and the panch witnesses failed to support the allegations, eventually being declared hostile.The court took a particularly dim view of the absence of assistant police inspector (API) M.B. Khedkar, the investigating officer. Despite being given “more than sufficient opportunity” to appear, Khedkar never stepped into the witness box.“It is pertinent to note that the prosecution failed to examine the crucial witness, who is the investigating officer of the case,” judge Sayyad observed. “The court provided ample time to secure his presence, yet the progress of this 10-year-old case remained at a standstill because of his absence.”In his final order, the judge noted that there was “nothing incriminating” left on record to link the accused to the crime.“The overall evidence of the prosecution is brittle, scanty, and insufficient to establish the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubt,” the court held, leading to the acquittal of all three individuals.
