District Principal Judge SK Kotwal in his judgement, pronounced recently, observed that the prosecution failed to prove the case under IPC section 302 (murder) beyond reasonable doubt, and hence, gave the benefit of doubt to accused Mohammad Jiyaullah alias Ansari.
Ansari, who worked at a textile factory in Bhiwandi here, was accused of killing his colleague Rehman Ansari, aged 25 at the time of incident, on September 1, 2014.
Public prosecutor Sangita Phad in her submission told the court that accused and the victim knew each other well. On the night of the incident, the accused called up Rehman and took him to a place in Hanuman Tekdi and forced him to have a drink. He was found dead the next day in Koni village in Bhiwandi.
Defense counsel PS Mahimkar contested the case and said the prosecution had failed to prove the motive behind the killing.
The last seen theory with the accused has not been substantiated at all and the accused cannot be convicted only on circumstantial evidence, the counsel argued.
The court, after the submissions of the prosecution and defense, concluded that the accused be given the benefit of doubt and acquitted him of all the charges levelled against him.