Aurangabad: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court, setting aside the life term slapped by a sessions court in Beed in a murder case, has acquitted a woman and her paramour citing that the evidence placed before the court did not evoke confidence.The woman suspect — identified as Sitabai Narayan Dahe (40), a resident of Dhanora Road — was unhappy about her daughter’s relationship with Vaijanath Chadar (25). Thus, she allegedly got him killed with the help Anil Kundalik Korde of Jarud village by serving him liquor laced with insecticide.An accomplice of the suspect duo was also arrested for assisting them in the crime, but was acquitted during the course of trial. Both Dahe and Korde have been behind bars since their conviction.The duo had moved high court challenging their conviction, while the deceased’s father Gorakh filed a petition challenging the acquittal of the third accused.While acquitting the accused duo, the division bench of the HC, comprising justices TV Nalawade and Vibha Kankanwadi, stated that the trial court has not appreciated the evidence properly and it appears that he got swayed away with the apparent discovery by the accused duo and the testimony of one of the prosecution witnesses.“The trial court did not follow the principles laid down in the decisions by apex court in order to assess circumstantial evidence,” observed the HC.As per Beed police, on December 5, 2014, Chadar went to Dahe’s house where he was offered the insecticide-laced liquor. The accused trio put his body in a pesticide bag and on the same night took it on a bike and dumped it into Khandi percolation tank of Charatha Shivar.During the course of trial, as many as 20 witnesses were examined following which the Beed court convicted Korde and Dahe and sentenced them to life imprisonment on charges of murder and destruction of evidence. Their accomplice was acquitted.Lawyer ND Sonawane, contesting on behalf of Korde, pointed out the loopholes in the prosecution theory by pointing out that the police’s theory remains silent about what was Dahe’s daughter doing at the time of incident.Representing Dahe, lawyer Akshay Radikar, contested that though the police have claimed of an illicit relationship between the suspect duo and an affair between Vaijnath and Dahe’s daughter, they failed to provide any evidence.The lawyers pointed out that neither Dahe’s daughter was examined as a witness during the trial, nor any fingerprints were found on liquor glasses that the police seized as evidence. Moreover, the incident has no eyewitness.The HC ruled: “There is absolutely no evidence collected by the investigating officer as to from where the liquor and pesticide were bought so as to connect the accused with the crime.”

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