5 months ago
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A Thane tribunal has acquitted each 7 accused successful a 2019 lawsuit of dacoity astatine a cablegram company's godown, noting that the prosecution failed to found their identity, involvement, and the indispensable elements of offences nether the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Special MCOCA tribunal justice V.G. Mohite, successful the bid connected November 26, 2025, ruled that the full concatenation of grounds — from recognition to recoveries — suffered from large ineligible and procedural lapses. The tribunal acquitted the accused of charges nether the Indian Penal Code and the MCOCA.
According to the prosecution, 8 unidentified men allegedly broke into the cablegram godown astatine Mankoli successful Bhiwandi country of Maharashtra's Thane territory connected July 18, 2019, tied up the workers, and escaped with 64 bundles of polycab cablegram ligament valued astatine ₹6.77 lakh on with currency and a driving licence. The intruders allegedly made a spread successful the compound partition and broke the locks to summation entry.
The constabulary aboriginal arrested 7 persons successful transportation with the case. The court, however, recovered the testimonies of cardinal eyewitnesses to beryllium unreliable owing to contradictions and procedural violations. The recognition parade conducted astatine the Adharwadi Jail successful Kalyan was besides discarded.
"The prosecution has not recorded the grounds of Executive Magistrate...in these circumstances, it is unsafe to trust upon grounds of prosecution witnesser and trial recognition parade panchanama," the tribunal said.
"The prosecution witnesses had seen the accused successful the constabulary presumption aft their arrest...in these circumstances, it is unsafe to trust upon their testimony," the tribunal said.
The tribunal besides rejected aggregate recoveries, including cablegram bundles, sticks, knives and a tempo, connected the crushed that they were taken from unfastened places, lacked corroboration, oregon witnesses contradicted constabulary claims.
The prosecution produced telephone item records of the accused to suggest coordination earlier and aft the incident. But the tribunal held that specified information unsocial could not implicate them. The tribunal besides recovered that the prosecution wholly failed to found the statutory requirements of "continuing unlawful activity" and "organised crime".
"The mandatory request of the offence of organised transgression arsenic defined successful Section 2(1)(e) of the MCOC Act has not been proved... specified postulation of copies of erstwhile complaint sheets...are not capable to beryllium the offence," it said.
"Considering the grounds placed connected grounds and the ineligible provisions of the MCOC Act, it is noted that the prosecution has failed to beryllium the engagement of the accused successful the crime," the tribunal said.
Those acquitted successful the lawsuit are Baitulla Ruabali Chaudhary (51), Kabir Usman Shaikh (48), Swapnil alias Gotya Rajendra Panchal (38), Bablu Jangbahadur Vishwakarma (44), Puran alias Kancha Sherbahadur Sonar (28), Deepak Jagat Vishwakarma (30) and Jamil Majid Khan (54).
