Mumbai, Dec 1 (PTI) A Mumbai court acquitted a 37-year-old man accused of murdering his son and attempting to take the lives of his two other children by mixing poison in their ice-creams.
In a verdict delivered recently, Additional Sessions Judge Ashwini Kasture said the prosecution has “miserably failed” to link the accused Ali Naushad Ansari with the present crime.
The prosecution’s case suffered a massive blow as the witnesses turned hostile and the complainant, the victims’ mother, denied lodging a report against her husband about their son’s death.
Police had alleged that on June 25, 2021, Ansari, frustrated by daily domestic quarrels, administered “Ratol” (rat poison) mixed in ice cream to his three children at their residence in suburban Govandi.
While two of the children survived after treatment, one passed away four days later, following which police registered a case under Indian Penal Code for murder, attempt to murder and causing hurt by means of poison.
In her deposition, the victims’ mother denied she lodged the report against her husband about the death of their son. She also denied their son died due to consumption of poison.
One of their daughters stated she and her siblings were playing outside the house after eating jelly, which was purchased by them from money provided by their mother. The girl firmly denied the allegation that her father had provided them with “tube ice cream” containing rat killer.
She said the children had informed their mother about the pain, but their father was not present in the house. had said.
The court, after reviewing the evidence on record, noted that the prime witnesses have not supported the prosecution’s case.
The judge also pointed out the treating doctor in her cross examination admitted she had not preserved the lavage sample, which is the best sample to know the cause of death.
Even the investigating officers of the case have admitted “they did not find any independent witness to link the accused with the seized Ratol tube”, the court said.
“The prosecution miserably failed to link the accused with the present crime,” the court said in its order. PTI AVI BNM
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