Maharashtra: Court acquits Nepalese man accused of beheading colleague

A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has acquitted a 38-year-old Nepalese national accused of beheading his colleague and disposing off his remains at different places.

Additional sessions judge at Kalyan Shaukat S Gorwade acquitted Rajeshkumar Nepali aka Yagnaprasad Kaluram Pukhrel (Jaisi) of charges under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.

The judge in his order dated April 10 noted that the prosecution had failed to prove all the charges against the accused.

According to the prosecution, the alleged accused worked at a Chinese eatery at Katrap on Badlapur-Karjat Highway.

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On April 14, 2017, the owners of the eatery and the staffers, including the victim Jagat Teghbahadu Shahi, had a party at the establishment, after which the owners left and the accused and the victim were the only persons left at the place.

The next day, a shopkeeper near the eatery found a bloodied plastic bag with the victim's head and the police later found the torso some 1,000 feet away from the place.

The accused was arrested from Pushpak Express train at Bhusaval while he was travelling to Uttar Pradesh. In his order, the judge pointed out several flaws in the police probe.

“The test identification parade of the accused was not conducted in the present case. Hence, the identity of the person throwing the bag having chopped head is not established," the order stated.

The CCTV footage with proper sanctity is not produced in the court, it stated, adding that the prosecution had also not led evidence to prove that the deceased was in the company of the accused before his death.