Court acquits man of killing his parents

A Thane court has acquitted a 24- year-old man of the charge of killing his parents giving him the benefit of doubt.
Additional Sessions Judge at Kalyan, S P Gogarkar, acquitted Sagar Dinkar, observing that the prosecution failed to prove the charge under IPC section 302 (murder) against him.
"Considering the scanty evidence produced on record, it is very difficult to connect the accused with the alleged crime," the judge said in his order earlier this week while acquitting the man.
The prosecution told the court that the man, who lived with his parents and other siblings at Vashind in Sahapur taluka here, was reluctant to take up a job to support his family and used to have frequent quarrels with his parents over the issue.

Narrating the tale to the court, the prosecution said on March 6, 2016 Dinkar went out with his brother to the nearby village and killed his parents next day after returning to his house
"The accused went into the house first but came out after a short while and told his brother that he had killed their parents," they said.

The prosecution told the court that when Dinkar's brother went inside the house, he found their parents lying dead in pool of blood.
Also, they added, that Dinkar who fled the scene then was arrested by the local police later.

However, the judge observed that the prosecution relied on the oral evidence of the family witnesses, who have not supported the prosecution story, and said the evidence submitted is uncorroborated.
With that, the judge also wondered why Dinkar's younger sister, who was present in the house at the time of the incident, was neither cited as a witness nor her statement recorded by the police.
The judge also observed that though a knife was recovered from the accused, the witnesses failed to corroborate the statement of the investigating officer on the seizure of the weapon along with blood-stained clothes.
"It is also pertinent to note that the investigating officer said in his cross-examination that there were no blood stains on the seized knife," the judge said.

Moreover, the judge also observed that the investigating officer also admitted there were incidents of dacoity and robbery in that area that night, and noted that the possibility of attack for robbery cannot be overruled.