Raj Thackeray acquitted in railway recruitment exam violence case; Thane court cites lack of evidence

THANE: A Thane court on Thursday acquitted Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and five others in a 17-year-old case where candidates from other states who had come for the railways recruitment exam were attacked at Kalyan railway station.The court cited insufficient evidence and the prosecution's failure to establish the presence or involvement of the accused at the scene of the alleged incident in 2008. Of the eight accused named in the chargesheet, two died during pendency of the trial. The court extended the benefit of the doubt to the remaining six accused.Chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Abhijeet A Kulkarni delivered the verdict in the 2008 Kalyan station violence case on Thursday, clearing Raj Thackeray and five others of charges including rioting, unlawful assembly and assault. The case dates back to Oct 19, 2008, when MNS activists were accused of assaulting candidates who had arrived from other states for the Railway Recruitment Board examination. The incident also led to clashes between police and the agitators.The alleged violence, said to have affected nearly 150 students, became one of the more politically charged criminal cases to emerge from the MNS’s early agitations against north Indian migrants. Police had alleged that MNS workers protested outside several exam centres, blocking roads and shouting slogans.The incident had also sparked a big political controversy, with many politicians from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar criticising the MNS stance. Police had registered 130 cases, of which 15 are pending.Advocate Sayaji Nangre who, along with Shailesh Sadekar, represented the accused, argued before the court that none of the seven prosecution witnesses nor any digital evidence, including a video CD central to the case could confirm Raj’s presence at the ticket booking office of Kalyan railway station between 8:30pm and 10:15pm on Oct 19, 2008. Since the prosecution could not establish that Raj was physically present, Nangre contended, the charges of rioting and inciting violence against him were inherently unsustainable.The defence further pointed to procedural lapses in the prosecution’s case, including inconsistencies in police witness statements and discrepancies in the timing of panchnamas. Despite the prosecution’s claim that 150 students were affected, no admit cards, identity proofs or official examination records were ever produced to corroborate the allegation, the defence had argued.CJM Kulkarni found the video CD legally insufficient and devoid of evidentiary value. Witnesses had also failed to identify the accused during the trial, further weakening the prosecution’s case, the defence lawyer stated.Thackeray, who had appeared in court on May 13 to deny all charges and say he was in Nashik at the time of the incident, was present in the courtroom when the verdict was delivered on Thursday.