A court in Maharashtra’s Thane district acquitted five persons accused of attacking and killing a man at a village in Bhiwandi taluka.
Additional sessions judge P M Gupta in his order held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the alleged accused who were residents of Payegaon village.
The copy of the order dated October 3 was made available on Sunday.
According to the prosecution, the alleged accused had attacked the victim Sadanand Devlikar with iron rods and knives around 7 am on July 9, 2011. The victim sustained severe injuries and was declared dead at a hospital.
The judge in his order rejected the deposition of the victim’s widow citing that it was not trustworthy.
He noted that the crime was reported to the police nearly two hours after it occurred, though the informant and other prosecution witnesses had mobile phones and had contacted each other to pass on information about the incident.
There was no immediate motive for the accused persons to commit the crime, the court held while acquitting them.