Mumbai, June 18: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Diya Padalkar and the State of Maharashtra in the appeal filed by Niddhi Prakash Kukreja, challenging Padalkar’s acquittal by the sessions court in her daughter Jhanvi Kukreja’s murder case in 2021.
A bench of Justices Ajay Gadkari and Kamal Khata issued the notice while hearing an appeal by Niddhi Kukreja, through advocate Tivankumar Karnani, challenging the acquittal. The High Court has kept the matter for hearing after six weeks.
The appeal, filed by Niddhi Kukreja, contends that Padalkar was acquitted on “unfounded and illogical assumptions contrary to the evidence surfaced on record in the course of the trial”.
Appeal challenges acquittal in 2021 murder case
Kukreja, a psychology student who lived in Santacruz, was brutally murdered by her friends on New Year’s Eve in 2021 at Bhagwati Heights, Khar, on the intervening night of December 31, 2020, and January 1, 2021. Ambadas Jogdhankar and Padalkar allegedly assaulted Kukreja on the staircase and murdered her after attending a party on the terrace of the Khar building.
The sessions court, on January 31, convicted Jogdhankar and sentenced him to life imprisonment, observing that he pushed her from the second floor of the building, knowing that it could cause her death. However, it acquitted Padalkar, giving her the benefit of the doubt.
It observed that the “prosecution has established her presence at the crime spot. Her complicity in the commission of the crime is doubtful as there were no injuries caused to her, except for the injury on her lip.”
Petitioner cites forensic and circumstantial evidence
Seeking reversal of Padalkar’s acquittal, the appeal states that the trial court accepted Padalkar’s presence at the scene of the crime and a scuffle between her and the deceased but “shockingly acquits her (Padalkar) by disregarding overwhelming circumstantial and forensic evidence establishing her active participation and common intention in the murder”.
“The trial court failed to consider the pre- and post-incident conduct of the accused, coupled with multiple testimonies which prove her active participation and involvement beyond reasonable doubt,” the appeal added.
Highlighting the incriminating material against Padalkar, the appeal states that there is CCTV footage, witness testimonies and recovery of Padalkar’s belongings at the crime scene during the fatal assault. Moreover, the forensic report confirmed the blood of the deceased on the pillow and bed sheet where Padalkar lay, linking her directly to the assault, the appeal added.
Family seeks conviction of co-accused
Stating that the sessions court judgment has led to a “miscarriage of justice” to the extent of Padalkar’s acquittal, the appeal has sought quashing of the same.
It has urged the High Court to convict Padalkar in view of the cumulative circumstantial, medical, forensic and testimonial evidence establishing her active participation in Kukreja’s murder.
As per the prosecution’s case, Kukreja and Jogdhankar were in a relationship. Kukreja was upset over Jogdhankar’s proximity to Padalkar at the venue on the eighth floor. The police claimed the three had a fight.
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Around 1.45 am, when Kukreja was on her way down, both accused allegedly followed her from the fifth floor and started quarrelling with her. They allegedly assaulted her on the way down, pulling her by the hair until they reached the second floor, causing her serious injuries.
Later, she was found dead on the ground floor. The prosecution further contended that Kukreja was assaulted to death by the two after a fight on the stairs. Kukreja had more than 40 injuries on her body.
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