Mumbai: Fourteen years after a Mulund homemaker, then aged 29, was accused of mowing down a senior citizen from a nearby slum who was napping in the open parking of her apartment complex, a magistrate’s court has acquitted her after key witnesses, including the deceased’s son-in-law who had filed the complaint, died during the trial’s pendency.Acquitting Neha Kapasi, who was out on bail, from the charges under the Indian Penal Code and Motor Vehicles Act last week, the magistrate said, “As the complainant is dead, the complaint is not proved. Also, despite issuing witness summons from time to time to other eyewitnesses to the incident, prosecution did not keep them present and examine them. Reports of the nature that many witnesses do not reside at the given addresses have been submitted.”The magistrate further said that it could not be proved that Kapasi drove the car at a high speed, dashed into Kamalabai Gaikwad and caused her death, and left the spot without providing any medical help.It was the prosecution’s case that on November 10, 2012, around 2pm, Gaikwad’s son-in-law Mahadev Jadhav arrived at Trishala Apartment on P K Road in Mulund (W). She served him lunch and went to rest in the shade of an open parking space near the main gate. Soon after, a crowd began shouting and running toward the building. Jadhav rushed to the scene to find Gaikwad trapped under a white sedan, vomiting blood and severely injured. Kapasi was identified as the driver. Bystanders assisted in pulling Gaikwad from beneath the car, and Jadhav transported her in an autorickshaw to a local hospital before she was transferred to the ICU at Sion Hospital. Gaikwad succumbed to her injuries the following morning.Following the death, Jadhav lodged a complaint at Mulund police station. Kapasi was arrested on November 12, 2012, and was released on bail the same day. However, charges were framed against her in April 2025, and the recording of evidence did not commence until June this year.The investigating officer was the sole witness examined by the court. The prosecution submitted that Jadhav, and the two independent panch witnesses were dead. Other eyewitnesses could not be traced or failed to appear despite multiple summons.During cross-examination, the investigating officer accepted that no physical articles or evidence were seized from the accident spot. The officer further admitted that the deceased did not reside in the building, but lived in a nearby slum, noting that resting or sleeping in an active vehicle parking area posed a danger to life.
