Husband-wife duo acquitted of murder charge
Judge says prosecution failed to prove the accused assaulted the deceased
PANAJI
The additional sessions judge Mapusa, Vijaya D Pol, has acquitted a husband and wife duo of Nagappa Kunni and Saroja Kunni of the murder of one Chaman Sab alias Sham alias Lambu, who was a labourer at the Aldeia de Goa Project, on grounds that the prosecution has failed to conclusively prove that the duo assaulted Chamansab with a barton (danda) causing his death.
The security guard found Chamansab murdered at the Aldeia de Goa project site with a blunt object on October 10, 2011, and the police arrested the Kunnis on charges of murder under section 302 of IPC.
The prosecution relied on the fact that the accused was able to put his hand through the metal sheet of the makeshift huts of the labourers, and pull out the wooden danda and the iron rod as he knew exactly where these were.
However the court felt that “the mere fact that the accused had knowledge of the place where the wooden danda and iron rod were hidden does not connect the accused with the crime in the absence of other substantial and incriminating evidence against the accused."
The testimony of the daughter was also taken on record who said that she saw her uncle Ramesh (mother’s brother) and another person who stayed with them, leave immediately after the incident. The police could not trace Ramesh, despite several efforts.
“The recovery of the wooden danda and iron rod at the instance of the accused only proves that the accused had knowledge about the said weapons being hidden inside their room made of tin sheets and not that the accused had concealed the same… this interpretation is reasonable in view of the fact that on the night of the incident there were other persons also inside the room of the accused,” the judge observed.
“The prosecution has failed to prove that the accused persons assaulted the deceased with danda and iron rod and caused his death,” the judge noted. Since the prosecution has failed to prove whether they had actually done it, “there is no scope for ascertaining from the evidence, whether the accused persons had any intention to kill the deceased,” the judge adding while acquitting the accused.
Earlier the daughter of the accused said that her “uncle Ramesh came to her place along with one more person on October 10 (the night of the murder) at 10.30 pm” and that in the morning when she woke up “her uncle and the person accompanying him were not seen.”
The investigating officer in his testimony records that he “made efforts to trace Ramesh and the other person by visiting their native place in Karnataka but they were not traced.”
“The evidence on record, therefore shows that many material witnesses who were either present in the house of the accused persons or were present in the house of the deceased at the relevant time of the incident, have not been examined by the prosecution on the ground that they are not traceable,” the judge noted in her order.
