Thane:
A district court here acquitted a 25-year-old man who was accused of kidnapping and brutally killing a three-year-old boy in Maharashtra’s Thane district.
In his order dated March 3, district judge H M Patwardhan held that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges of kidnap and murder against Badal Sarkar and acquitted him.
According to the prosecution, Sarkar, a native of West Bengal, lived at Kashi village in Kashimira and worked at a construction site with the victim’s father.
Sarkar used to frequent the victim’s house, but the victim’s mother took objection when he came home drunk one day, the prosecution stated.
When he was not invited to the victim’s birthday celebrations, Sarkar was allegedly furious and abducted the child on January 8, 2015, the prosecutor claimed.
The toddler was killed and his body was found in a gutter the next day, following which Sarkar was arrested.
Appearing for the accused, counsel Ramrao Jagtap said the prosecution has not proved that the victim and the accused were last seen together.
There was no evidence to suggest that Sarkar had killed the child and thrown his body in the gutter, he said, adding that there were no witnesses and the chain of circumstances was not complete.
Taking note of the defence’s argument, Sarkar was acquitted of all charges in the case.
