Eight accused in murder case acquitted after 26 years

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

In the famous Govind Kohale murder case of 1998, the Aurangabad bench of the Mumbai High Court, comprising Justices Sandipkumar More and Mehroz Pathan, overturned the life sentences awarded by the Latur Sessions Court to eight accused.

The murder occurred on December 12, 1998, in Haregaon, Ausa taluka, Latur district, following a dispute over removing soil mounds from the village after an earthquake in Killari. The Sessions Court had convicted the accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment. This High Court verdict finally concluded a criminal case that had been pending for over two decades.

Arguments from the accused

In the appeal, senior lawyer Vijaykumar D. Sapkal highlighted serious inconsistencies, contradictions, and suppression of important facts in the prosecution evidence. He noted that the government witnesses were relatives of the deceased, whose testimony had been influenced by long-standing factionalism, personal interest, and animosity. Furthermore, independent eyewitnesses present at the scene, such as laborers, were not examined, weakening the prosecution’s case.

Bench observations

The bench observed that the prosecution failed to prove the accused’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt based on oral and medical evidence. Several injured witnesses’ statements had already been deemed unreliable by the Sessions Court. The method of attack and the weapons allegedly used did not match medical evidence. Considering the overall circumstances, it appeared the incident arose from long-standing enmity, making it unsafe to hold the accused specifically responsible for a fatal attack.

Advocate Sapkal was assisted by Advocates Yash Jadhav, Rohit Patil, Atharv Khedkar, Amit Gadekar, Priyanka Kale, and Vishwambar Bhosale.