Thane, Mar 21 A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has sentenced two men to life imprisonment for the murder of a fellow labourer following a drunken brawl nine years ago.
In the order passed on March 18, Additional Sessions Judge R S Bhakare convicted Ashok Laljitkumar Chaurasiya (39) and his elder brother Kamleshkumar (53) under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced them.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each convict.
The incident had occurred on the night of May 20, 2017 in a garden in Mira Road area, where the accused, the deceased Rajendra alias Rajan Meshram and another person named Biru Netam were consuming liquor.
The prosecution said an argument began when Biru demanded more liquor from Ashok. This led to a scuffle, during which the accused duo repeatedly assaulted Rajendra on the head with a log of wood. While Rajendra succumbed to his injuries, Biru was also injured in the attack.
The court relied on circumstantial evidence, medical reports, and forensic findings, as the informant and the injured witness could not be traced for testimony during the trial.
The court said, "The probable cause of death was head injury (unnatural)...the injuries mentioned in the PM report are possible by wooden log . These injuries are sufficient to cause death."
It added that the accused did not give any explanation about the blood stains found on their clothes.
The accused had also sustained injuries, but failed to give an explanation about how they were injured. Hence, the prosecution has proven the guilt of the accused beyond all reasonable doubt, the court concluded.
