Mumbai, Jun 15 A court here on Monday acquitted a 68-year-old woman and a co-accused in a 2006 case of murder, ruling that the prosecution could not establish that the headless body the police had found was that of her husband, the purported victim.
Additional Sessions Judge Mahesh K Jadhav acquitted Bansiben Kharwa, the wife of Kisan Kharwa, and co-accused Irshadali Shah.
The prosecution also failed to prove the accused's motive, the judge said.
There was no evidence that Bansiben hired Shah and an absconding accused to murder her husband, he added.
As per the prosecution, a police constable on morning patrol duty found a severely mutilated male torso wrapped in cloth in Nagpada area of the city on May 14, 2006.
The body was missing its head, arms, and legs, making its identification very difficult. The case remained unsolved for 12 years.
The probe was handed over to another senior police inspector in 2018. Acting on a tip-off, the officer concluded that the torso belonged to a missing man named Kisan Kharwa.
Subsequently, Kharwa's wife Bansiben and local businessman Irshadali Shah were arrested. Police claimed that Bansiben had given Shah the contract to kill her husband and paid him Rs 2,00,000.
The state's case relied entirely on circumstantial evidence.
But the court noted that the "circumstantial evidence on record did not establish a chain to prove the guilt and involvement of the accused in the crime".
Even the deceased's daughter, Kalpana Kharwa, turned hostile during the trial and refused to support the police's claims.
The Investigating Officer admitted during cross-examination that he collected no forensic evidence to prove that the torso found in 2006 was that of Kisan Kharwa.
The court acquitted both Bansiben Kharwa and Irshadali Shah of all charges.
