In a significant turn of events, the District and Additional Sessions Court in Belapur, presided over by Judge Parag A Sane, has acquitted three men previously accused of the 2012 murder of a real estate developer, citing insufficient evidence.
The accused, Umesh Mahadev Chavan (51), Arvind Dnyaneshwar Jadhav, and Mansing Balaso Kadam (both 43), were cleared of all charges related to the death of Dadasaheb Bajbalkar, whose body was discovered in the trunk of his car near a traffic signal in the Sanpada area of Navi Mumbai. The judgement, passed on January 30, was released on Thursday after more than a decade of legal proceedings.
The trio faced charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), and 34 (common intention). They were accused after Bajbalkar’s body was found on July 2, 2012, following his disappearance after attending a party with Umesh Chavan.*
The prosecution’s case hinged on circumstantial evidence, including CCTV footage, forensic analysis, and witness statements. However, the defense team, led by advocates Ravindra Sonawane, Ramrao Jagtap, and B D Pawle, challenged the integrity of the evidence and the consistency of the investigation. They highlighted several procedural flaws and questioned the linkage of the key evidence to the accused.
In delivering the acquittal, Judge Sane noted the absence of an eyewitness and significant gaps in the prosecution’s narrative that failed to establish a continuous chain of events directly implicating the accused.
