The sessions court recently sentenced a 43-year-old man to life imprisonment for murdering his wife in October 2017. The couple’s son was the eyewitness but turned hostile. The court nonetheless sentenced the man as he could not prove his claim of alibi.
The case was lodged with Govandi police station by the deceased woman’s (Babita) mother, Kavita Panchal. She recounted that Babita had eloped with the accused, Suraj Shetty, in 2005 and the couple later had two kids, with the family residing in the complainant’s neighbourhood.
The incident took place on October 14, 2017, when Babita visited her mother’s house. After she left at 10.30pm, the son came running to inform that his father had killed his mother. Panchal rushed to her daughter’s house with a neighbour and saw Suraj crossing the road. The door to their house was locked but the lights were on. From the window they saw Babita lying on the floor, bleeding from her head, following which they called the police and the ambulance. Babita was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Suraj was arrested on October 15, 2017, and has been in prison since. He claimed he was at work in Vashi and received a phone call from his son, informing him that Babita had suffered a fall. His son had testified against him but later turned hostile. The court, however, noted that the death was not accidental but homicidal as there were several bodily injuries that indicated physical assault.
The court said that the evidence on record shows that Suraj was present at the spot of incident and committed the crime. Moreover, as he failed to explain how Babita died, adverse inference is required to be drawn against him.
