Ahmedabad sessions court acquits 4 persons in 2011 lynching case

AHMEDABAD: A city sessions court has acquitted four persons in a 2011 case, in which a 25-year-old from outside the state was lynched by local people on suspicion that he had come to commit theft.
Four persons — Rajendrakumar Jhala, Ramesh Bharwad, Punam Thakor and Mukesh Thakor — were implicated by police on the basis of suspicion because they had gone to Vatva police station with the person, and his body was found one day later.
The police complaint said an unidentified person was found roaming the farms of the accused persons on the night of March 31, 2011. They suspected that he was a thief. He could not speak the local language. He was allegedly beaten, and the police were informed. The four accompanied the unknown person to police station in the PCR van but took him back because they did not want to register a complaint. This was also stated in an entry made at the police station early on the morning of April 1.
After the four left police station, a body was found nearly 2km from the police station packed in a gunny bag. Police arrested the four on charges of murder and destruction of evidence. Police recorded witness statements and obtained postmortem and FSL reports.
The PM reports revealed that the person had been tied with a rope, dragged on the ground and brutally beaten. His identity could not be ascertained. When the cops were questioned in court, they did not support the case. The investigating police inspector and complainant PSI said they could not say whether the four accused had killed the person, but there was no effort made to provide him medical treatment when he was brought to police station injured the previous night.
Police witnesses told the court that they could not say for sure if the same person who was brought to police station the day before his murder.
All independent witnesses and the witnesses to the inquest proceedings turned hostile in this case leading to the acquittal of the four accused.