Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the murder conviction of the prime accused in the 2011 killing of Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandes in Amboli, while acquitting two co-accused of the murder charge for lack of evidence.
A bench of Justices M.S. Karnik and Sandesh Patil partly allowed the appeals filed by the convicts and modified the trial court’s order. The court upheld the murder conviction of accused No. 1, Jitendra Fakirchand Rana alias Chaina, sentencing him to 20 years’ imprisonment without remission.
The bench acquitted accused Nos. 3 and 4, Sunil Omprakash Both alias Chota and Deepak Ishwar Piwal, of the murder charge, holding that there was no material evidence to establish their involvement in the killings. However, their convictions and sentences for the other offences were upheld.
The fourth accused, Satish Nafeshing Dulgaj, died in custody while the appeals were pending.
A special women’s court in May 2016 had sentenced all four accused to life imprisonment for the murders. They had been in custody since 2011.
The incident took place on October 20, 2011, when Keenan and Reuben were standing near a paan shop in Amboli, Andheri West, with some women friends. A group of men allegedly began harassing the women. When the two men objected to the harassment, they were attacked by the group.
The trial court had held that the prosecution proved that the victims were attacked after they protested against the harassment of their women friends.
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