A court in Maharashtra’s Thane district has sentenced a man to eight years’ rigorous imprisonment for culpable homicide in a 2018 assault case. The court said that the prosecution failed to prove he intended to commit murder.
As per PTI, Kalyan court’s Additional Sessions Judge R V Tamhanekar, in the order on Friday, sentenced Pravin Santosh Mukane. However, the Thane court acquitted another accused, Satyawan Balkrishna Waghe, giving him the benefit of doubt.
According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on the night of November 7, 2018, near a grocery shop in the Badlapur area of Thane district, where a dispute arose between the victim, Rajesh alias Chidya Ramesh Waghe, and the accused.
Accused attacked the victim with a wooden rod
Waghe allegedly fetched a wooden rod and handed it to Mukane, who hit the victim on the head with it. The injured victim was rushed to the hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival, the prosecution said.
The police subsequently registered an FIR against the accused under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
11 victims examined
Additional Public Prosecutor Kadambini M Khandagale said, “During the trial, the prosecution examined 11 witnesses, alongside medical reports and the autopsy findings, which confirmed the cause of death as an unnatural head injury,” as per PTI.
Analysing the evidence, the judge observed that the prosecution established the overt act and knowledge on the part of the primary assailant but did not prove a premeditated intention to commit murder.
Mukane was convicted under Section 304 (II) of the IPC for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, instead of the original charge under Section 302.
The court sentenced him to eight years of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000, with a default provision of two months’ further rigorous imprisonment. It granted him a set-off for the period already spent as an undertrial since November 8, 2018.
The court acquitted Waghe of all charges, as per PTI.
It directed the District Legal Services Authority, Thane, to evaluate appropriate compensation for the dependents of the deceased.
(With inputs from PTI)
