Aurangabad High Court bench gives conflicting verdicts

AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court on Monday pronounced a conflicting judgment in the case of murder of a farmer in Hingoli district in 2007.
The sessions court in Hingoli had convicted eight people to life imprisonment and acquitted three accused. The convicts had challenged the verdict in the high court, while the state government also had approached the high court against the acquittal of two of the accused.
Justice A V Niurgude on Monday dismissed the appeal of the government against the acquittals, while justice A I S Cheema reversed the acquittal of one of the accused and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
In another appeal by three of the convicts, Justice Nirgude acquitted all the three, while Justice Cheema dismissed their appeal against conviction. Joydeep Chatterjee, the lawyer who represented the three petitioners, said now the matter would be referred to the chief justice of Bombay high court who would assign a third judge, whose verdict will be final.
Both the judges confirmed the conviction of Goprao Mhaske. They also agreed to the arguments by the defense lawyers and acquitted three convicts, said additional public prosecutor Mahendra Nerlikar. The lawyers included senior counsel Shirish Gupte holding for Nilesh Ghanekar.
Ghanekar, who represented the acquitted -- Sanotsh Bangar and Laxman Bangar -- said that on February 23, 2007, the 11 accused had allegedly reached a disputed farm under Basamba police station in Hingoli district, staking claim to harvest the turmeric crop. The deceased, Vitthalappa Torkad, and his family took exception to their claim and resisted them. The accused went away but returned later with weapons and attacked Todkar, causing him serious injuries. Todkar was rushed to the government hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Police registered an offence against the 11 people under various sections of the IPC including 302.