Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A Special Court for MPs and MLAs in Bhopal on Friday acquitted former minister Sukhdev Panse and 13 others in the murder of a Pardhi couple in Chauthiya village in Multai tehsil of Betul district. The case was registered in 2008.
Around 18 years after the incident, the court delivered its verdict in the case on Friday. According to case details, a series of incidents, including arson and vandalism, took place in 2008 at a camp belonging to the Pardhi community in Chauthiya village near Multai.
The bodies of Bondru Pardhi and his wife Dodal Pardhi were later found in a well. Following the investigation, police registered a murder case against 16 villagers, including Panse. During the trial, two of the suspects died.
Panse was among those named in the Multai incident that took place in September 2007, when a settlement of the Pardhi community was set on fire and the couple were killed. The case was later probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the directions of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The CBI initially registered a case against nine persons. Subsequently, the CBI special court ordered registration of a case against eight more persons, including Panse.
Defence counsel Sanjay Rawat said that apart from Panse, those acquitted include Raja Pawar, Sandip Savale, Umesh Dange, Kachru, Suresh, Namdev Dhakar, Narain Singh, Karu Narvare, Doman Lohar, Gajju Dongare, Ramesh Dhakad and Ramkishore Wankhede.
