THANE: The Thane sessions court has acquitted a 38-year-old man from the powerloom town of Bhiwandi who was tried for an offence of double murder and practice of black magic. He has been given the benefit of doubt as the prosecution miserably failed to prove the charges.
The accused, Rafique Ansari , was acquitted last week by the additional sessions judge, SP Godhalekar.
Another alleged accused Abdul Ajij Chotu Shaikh was also tried along with him but as he died during pendency of trial the case against him was abetted by the court.
The prosecutor told the court that it was on October 04,2015 a rickshaw driver had gone for fishing near the Kokni Kabrastan on the Idgha road and witnessed that one person was lying in the Kabrastan badly injured and another person also injured was lying besides him. He alerted the police who rushed the two injured to the hospital where doctors declared both brought dead.
One of the dead was identified as Minarul Ilahi Shaikh, resident of Shantinagar, Mankhurd, Mumbai. The other dead man was identified as Laxman Burman. There were injuries on his head, ear, eyes, abdomen. Lemons, black colour doll and nail was found on Shaikh.
During the course of the probe, the police arrested the duo and charged them under various sections of the IPC and black magic act.
The judge heard the prosecution's version but while acquitting the accused, in his order, the judge punched several holes in the prosecution theory, in his order the judge noted “..the C.A. (chemical analyses) report on record relating to clothes of the deceased and the samples collected from the place discloses human blood detection. However, clothes of the accused does not show any detection of human blood. In short, this C.A. report on record are of no use to connect the accused with the alleged incident.”
The judge further added, “..though different articles like lemon, black colour doll, nail and other thins found on spot being a chance to say that those were brought to practice to promote propagate or practiced human sacrifice and other inhuman, evil and aghori practices and black magic, there is no concrete evidence to show that accused persons and deceased had come there solely for that purpose and thereafter some dispute occurred between them and the co-accused committed their murder.”
Ansari, was tried for the offences various offences in including murder of Indian Penal Code along with some other sections of Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013.
