Cop asked to pay Re 1 compensation after 3 are acquitted in murder case

Mumbai, Nov 27: A court in Maharashtra has acquitted three persons in a 2007 case of killing a person and asked the investigating officer to pay Re 1 from his salary as compensation to each of those set free.

District Judge S B Bahalkar, in his order issued earlier this month, held the investigating officer (IO), R B More, responsible for falsely implicating the three persons in the case.

Five persons - Satyanarayan Jagannath Mishra, Shankar Jagannath Mishra (56), Virendra Kedarnath Varma, Sanjay Satyanarayan Mishra (47) and Santosh alias Pappu Satyanarayan Mishra (49) - from Vasai in neighbouring Palghar, were arrested and booked under IPC Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence).

While Satyanarayan Mishra and Virendra Varma died during the course of trial, the court acquitted the other three named as accused in the case.

One person is still absconding.

According to the prosecution, the accused had a business establishment in Diwanman locality of Vasai where the family of the victim, Iqbal alias Pappu Jamil Ahmed, had a garage and a food stall.

The accused wanted the victim's family to vacate the place which led to a dispute between the two sides.

The prosecution alleged that on account of the dispute, the accused killed Ahmed and dumped the body at a place in the locality on January 7, 2007.

The body was recovered the next day.

According to the prosecution, the accused did not file for discharge and decided to undergo trial in the case.

The judge said there was no evidence to prove the accused guilty and noted that the investigating officer falsely implicated them.

Holding More responsible for the mental and physical agony faced by the three accused, the judge directed the probing officer to pay a compensation of Re 1 to each of them.

The judge asked the authorities concerned to recover to the token compensation amount from the investigating officer's salary.