Thane, March 19 A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has sentenced two men to life imprisonment for the murder of a fruit seller in the Mira Road area in 2017 over a monetary dispute.
Additional Sessions Judge D S Deshmukh also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the accused duo, Sunilkumar Bituli Rajak (45) from Mira Road and Sudipkumar Raju Ravidas (33) from Jharkhand, after finding them guilty of criminal conspiracy and murder.
The court, however, acquitted two other accused, Umesh Raju Ravidas and Ashishkumar Tilak Bhuiya, both from Jharkhand, citing lack of evidence.
Rajak was additionally sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty of charges under the Arms Act and fined Rs 10,000.
According to the prosecution, the incident occurred during the night of April 5 and 6, 2017. The victim, Shamu Lohari Gaud, was shot in the chest at his residence after he opened the door to a person claiming to be a neighbor who had lost his keys.
Additional public prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale examined 25 prosecution witnesses to prove the case against the accused persons.
While the case was based on circumstantial evidence as no witness directly saw the shooter's face, the judge noted that the prosecution successfully established a motive. The victim had reportedly lent over Rs 1.5 lakh to Rajak while the latter was in a Jharkhand jail for a previous murder case.
In the 40-page judgment, the court said, "The monetary transaction which was the basis for constituting the motive for commission of crime is fully established."
The accused who have been convicted were in contact that night on mobile phone and their phone location was in the vicinity of residence of the deceased, it said.