HC acquits Sangli housewife from murdering two including son

Justices Sadhana Jadhav and V K Tahilramani also recently dismissed an appeal filed by the State seeking higher punishment for the convict, saying she had been acquitted from all the charges, including murder.

Suvarna, a resident of Borgaon in Sangli district, had borrowed a necklace from Sunita, wife of her husband's cousin, as she wanted to make an ornament of a similar type from jewellers shop. However, as promised she did not return the necklace to Sunita saying it is lying in safe and keys were with her father-in-law.

At that time appellant's son Shubham was playing with Sunita's son Pratik in the courtyard and she took Pratik to a relative's house where pesticides were stored. Pratik was later found dead with froth oozing from his mouth. Soon thereafter Subham was also found dead in a similar condition.

According to prosecution, Suvarna had told villagers that she had allegedly administered poisonous pesticides to Pratik to divert the attention of the family from the ornament borrowed from a relative. As her son Shubham had seen this, he too was given pesticides in a similar way.

Suvarna had also allegedly disclosed that she had sold the ornament to a jeweller in lieu of cash.

However, the court observed that the prosecution had failed to establish homicidal death of the children on the dates alleged by witnesses. (More)