Thane, April 8 A court in Thane, Maharashtra, has acquitted eight men accused of attempting to murder a police constable, citing the victim's inability to identify his attackers and the fact that key prosecution witnesses turned hostile.
In her judgment delivered on April 6, Additional Sessions Judge V L Bhosale gave the accused the benefit of the doubt, observing that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. A copy of the order was made available on Wednesday.
According to the prosecution, constable Bhaskar Sonavane was attacked with sticks and beer bottles outside a bar in the city's Upvan area on April 21, 2016. The attack was a result of a dispute between the hotel management and a customer named Kamlesh, whose brother Arun led 10-15 people to the site, it said.
Sonavane, who was at the spot to meet an informant, suffered a skull fracture and brain injuries in the attack, the court was informed during the trial.
The eight accused persons had been facing charges of attempted murder under the Indian Penal Code.
The court noted that the constable himself could not identify "any of the accused as the assailants, since the incident occurred at nighttime and he lost consciousness after being struck on the head".
Additionally, the hotel partner Rajesh Shetty and manager Naveen Gouda, who was the original complainant, both turned hostile, the judge noted.
"Having regard to all the evidence on record, I find that the prosecution has failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused persons charged in this case committed the offences," said the court, acquitting all the accused.