Nagpur: The Division Bench of the Bombay High Court- Nagpur Bench today pronounced the Judgment in the sensational murder case of Mohd. Irshad. The murder of Mohd. Irshad had rocked the Akola town in July 2012 as the deceased was brutally murdered and was inflicted with multiple lethal injuries numbering over 43 spread all over his body and vital organs. Similarly, Mohd. Ejaz, the brother of the deceased was also said to have been injured in this attack and he lodged the complaint against the accused. Pursuant to the said complaint, Mohd.Munaf , his real brothers and cousins were arrayed as accused in the said crime and the Police Station Ramdaspeth filed Charge sheet against the accused and four accused were arrested. The remaining seven accused were shown as absconding. The four arrested accused were put to Trial. Halfway during the trial, two more accused surrendered and they were also tried in the same trial.
The complainant side was represented by the battery of Lawyers from Akola including Advocate Navrangabadi, besides the public prosecutor Shri Vinod Fate. The prosecution examined several witnesses including four alleged Eye witnesses who all supported the prosecution and named all the accused and identified the accused before the Court.
The thenAdditional District & Sessions Judge Akola, Smt. V.N Tambiheld them guilty for murder and had convicted the accused and sentenced them to suffer Life Imprisonment on 30.3.2016.
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The matter had even earlier seen many interesting aspects with the accused approaching the High court seeking to use the interview given by complainant Mohd. Ejaz to a local cable TV channel regarding the incident. The said interview contained contradictory versions about the said incident and therefore the prosecution as well as complainant were avoiding to get the said interview on record. However, Justice S.B Shukre, while deciding the said application in 2015 delivered a Landmark verdict and allowed the interview to be used as the “ previous statement” of the complainant.
The matter further created sensation when the defence counsels – Senior Advocate Avinash Gupta & Advocate R.K Tiwari received death threats to dissuade them from defending the accused persons at Akola. The counsels were threatened of being shot at in court premises itself, if they continued to appear for the accused.
The accused ultimately moved the High court in an appeal after their final conviction and the accused contended that the versions of the alleged eye witnesses could not be relied upon and even the presence of the said witnesses on the spot was suspect. The Division Bench consisting of Justice Shri B.R. Gavai& Justice Kum. I. K Jain held the accused to be not guilty of the offences and thus set aside the Lifer imposed upon them at Trial while allowing the appeals.
Senior Advocate Avinash Gupta assisted by Advocates R.K Tiwari, Aakash Guptarepresented the accused at the Trial as well as in the high court. Advocate M.J. Khan APP represented the State.The complainant was represented by Advocate R.J. Mirza.
