LIC agent acquitted in murder case

An LIC agent from Valsad in Gujarat, who was accused of murdering a resident from Wada in neighbouring Palghar district, has been acquitted by a local court.
Accused Dharmesh Umesh Mishra, 40, was acquitted by the district court yesterday after the prosecution failed to prove the charges against him.
The prosecution told District Judge MM Wali Mohemmad that victim Rauf Jahumian Ansari, 43, of Wada had given a sum of Rs 1,70,000 to the accused for a LIC policy.
The accused allegedly neither made this payment to LIC for the policy nor returned the money to the victim, the court was told.

The victim pestered him to return the money and threatened to file a complaint with police in this regard.
Annoyed over the frequent harassment, the accused allegedly attacked Ansari with a steel pipe in the kitchen of his (victim's) house on October 21, 2015, killing him, the prosecution contended.

Before fleeing the house he also covered the body with a bed sheet and pillow and also took away Rs 40,000 cash in the house besides a mobile. The sim card was later disposed off, it said.
The accused was tried under sections 302, 397 and 201 of the IPC.
Contesting the case advocate Ramrao Jagtap pointed out that there are several lapses in the entire case.

The counsel pointed out that basically the motive behind the murder has not been proved by the prosecution.
The manager of HDFC bank where the accused is said to have deposited the cash has not been examined and the prosecution has also not proved that the accused was an LIC agent, the defence told the court.
The defence also argued that the prosecution has also not proved that the victim and the accused were last seen together in Wada taluka of Palghar.
The recovered cash was not produced in the court at all and was kept at the police station itself. The doctor's report as regards the death has also stated that the death could be result of a fall on a rough surface.

The prosecution has also failed to examine those persons whom the accused had allegedly lent money from the amount he had received from the victim for payment towards LIC policy, the defence argued.
Accepting the arguments put forth by the defence, the court set Mishra free.