Mumbai, June 20 A special CBI court here on Saturday dismissed the allegations by an approver that former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria orchestrated his illegal detention and torture in the 2006 murder case of Maharashtra Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar.
The court found that the approver's evidence was not reliable.
Special judge Satyanarayan Navandar acquitted former state minister Padamsinh Patil and seven others in the high-profile murder case, holding that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
On June 3, 2006, Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver, Samad Kazi, were on their way from Mumbai to Osmanabad (now Dharashiv) when two hitmen intercepted their car at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai and opened fire, killing both on the spot.
Parasmal Jain, the accused-turned approver, had claimed that crime branch officers illegally detained him and co-accused Dinesh Tiwari. They were ill-treated and harassed, and ultimately shown arrested in a false Arms Act case, he said.
Jain alleged that his arrest in false cases was orchestrated by Maria who was acting under the influence of certain powerful political leaders.
Jain stated in his cross-examination that the police stopped torturing him and Tiwari only after they confessed to their involvement in the present case.
Maria, who appeared as a witness, denied the allegations made by Jain.
The court held that the prosecution's stand of the alleged unlawful detention of the approver "is neither specific nor consistent".
There is no reliable, cogent, or convincing evidence to establish the alleged meetings of the approver with Patil and Maria, the court said.
"From the tenor of the confessional statement, it appears that the entire episode relating to these meetings was subsequently introduced with a view to connect Patil with the conspiracy and to create an impression Maria had proximity with the principal accused," the court remarked.
