PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has acquitted Pratima Naik, a woman from Vasco, who was charged and convicted of murdering her mother-in-law Usha Naik and sister-in-law Neha Naik by administering stupefying drugs at their place of residence at Mangor Hill on January 30, 2015.
“The appeal is allowed. The judgement and order dated 29.03.2017 passed by the Sessions Judge, Sessions Court, Margao in Sessions Case No. 21/2015, convicting the appellant is hereby quashed and set aside. Pratima Naik is acquitted of the offence punishable under Section 302 (murder), Section 380 as well as an offence punishable under Section 328 of IPC. The appellant, Pratima Naik shall be released immediately, if not required in any other offence,” the Bombay High Court at Goa bench of Justices M S Jawalkar and Dama Seshadri Naidu said in the order.
A detailed order is awaited.
The Vasco police had charged Pratima Naik for the murder of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law in a rare double murder case in Flat No 10 of Shree Kamat Palace Cooperative Housing Society at Mangor Hill, Vasco on January 30, 2015.
Pratima Naik, police said, committed the murder of her mother-in-law by strangulating her using nylon rope as a ligature material in the presence of Abhijit Korgaonkar her brother-in-law.
Naik then smothered her sister-in-law Neha with a pillow before committing the theft of gold ornaments belonging to both the deceased and their family members. The accused was charged for handing over the gold ornaments to Abhjit Korgaonkar for safe custody.
Korgaonkar was later declared as an approver and subsequently examined at length by the prosecution as witness number one.
Pratima was convicted of the double murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 for the double murder.
