Three acquitted in Mama-Bacha hills murder case

A local court today acquitted all the three accused arrested in the Mama-Bacha Hills murder case of 2011.
Pronouncing the judgment, Additional Sessions Judge V V Virkar held that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the charges against the accused - Monu Tapal (24), Eknath Thackeray (31) and Rakesh Jadhav (22).
The case pertains to the killing of one Yakul Ranshul (36) on July 8, 2011, when police had found his body on the Mama-Bhanja Hills here. The face of the victim was smashed beyond recognition following which a case of murder was registered.
Additional Public Prosecutor Ashok Khamkar told the court that the victim was last seen with the accused and they had eliminated him and smashed his face in an attempt destroy evidence.

During investigations, the police learnt that Tapal used to hang out with the deceased everyday. The police then learnt that Tapal was a history sheeter and has several murder and robbery cases registered against him.
On questioning, he told the police that the victim was his friend but during an argument Ranshul had insulted and abused Tapal's wife. Driven by rage, Tapul had decided to teach Ranshul a lesson, the court was informed.

He then hatched the murder plan with two of his friends. The trio took Ranshul to Mama-Bhacha Hills and killed him. They then smashed his face with a stone to make him unidentifiable.

The three were arrested and charged under sections 302, 120-B and 201 of the IPC.
However, they were acquitted as defence counsels Nandu Rajurkar and Eknath Phad vehemently argued the theory of being last seen together and told the court that there was no substantial evidence to prove the murder.