Pune, Jul 30 (PTI) A court in Pune on Tuesday acquitted a prime accused in the 2017 murder of two engineering students including a girl in a forest near Lonavala, a defence lawyer said.
Principal District & Sessions Judge Mahendra Mahajan acquitted Saleem Shaikh as the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, said the lawyer.
The detailed order was not yet available.
The prosecution was led by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
The bodies of Sarthak Wakchoure and Shruti Dumbre, both in their early 20s and final-year students of Sinhgad Engineering College in Lonavala, were found in the forest near the picturesque hill station on April 3, 2017.
The victims had been struck on the back of their heads with a blunt object, and their hands were tied behind their backs.
Two months after the discovery, Pune rural police arrested Saleem Shaikh and a minor in connection with the case, alleging that the motive behind the murder was robbery.
Advocate Afroz Shaikh, representing Saleem, stated that the court did not consider the statement of a friend of the accused.
As per this friend, the accused admitted, while talking to him, to involvement in the murders.
“The court observed that the extra-judicial statement of the accused’s friend was recorded after the arrest of the accused. The court asked why the witness waited for two months to approach the police when the news of the couple’s murder was all over the media,” said advocate Shaikh.
The court also noted the lack of scientific tools during the collection of DNA evidence. “Some tests were not conducted by the DNA analyzer, and no blood was detected on the clothes of the accused,” he said.
“The court also observed that the prosecution’s claim that the accused threw the victims’ phones in a septic tank had discrepancies. If he had murdered the couple for the phones, why would he dispose of them instead of selling them for profit?” he said.
The trial of the minor accused is currently underway before the Juvenile Justice Board. PTI SPK KRK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.