The district court here in Maharashtra has acquitted a 35-year-old man accused of killing a woman pavement dweller in Navi Mumbai in 2016 for want of sufficient evidence.
A copy of the order passed on September 28 was made available on Saturday.
The principal district and sessions court judge AL Pansare observed that the prosecution has failed to prove the charges against the accused, Sagar Yadav, who needs to be acquitted.
According to the prosecution, Yadav attacked the woman, also a pavement-dweller, near a school in Vashi on November 18, 2016, following a quarrel. He killed her by smashing her head with a stone, the court was told.
"I have not referred to the cross-examination for the simple reason that, even if, the case of the prosecution, through aforementioned witnesses, is accepted as it is, there is absolutely nothing against the accused that would require him to enter into defence. The weapon i.e. stone allegedly used to commit murder has been produced before the Court, but it has not been identified by any witness nor the report of Forensic Lab is brought on record to show that same was used in the crime. The Investigating Officer has admitted in cross-examination that he has not obtained fingerprints on the liquor bottle and stone. There is absolutely nothing incriminating against the accused and therefore, the statement under Section 313 of the Code is dispensed with," the order said.
