Two acquitted in murder case; court says victim died of heart attack

Thane, Oct 31 (PTI) The district court here has acquitted two men charged with the murder of their neighbor in October 2020, holding that he died of natural causes.

The prosecution failed to prove the charges against Gufran Yusufali Ansari (30) and Shahnawaz Mohammed Shafi Ansari (34) beyond a reasonable doubt, said judge S B Agrawal in the October 27 judgement, a copy of which became available on Friday.

The incident had taken place on October 8, 2020, at Sai Prasad Chawl in Mumbra near here.

As per the prosecution, Gulam Rasool Jamil Haq Shaikh, who ran a stove repair shop, objected to the dust generated by carpentry work done by the father of accused Gufran, who had a tailoring shop nearby.

The quarrel led to an assault by Gufran on Shaikh in the morning, the prosecution claimed. Later, at around 8 PM, when Shaikh's children questioned the accused, they abused the children and allegedly beat up Shaikh, causing his death.

But the court noted that none of the independent witnesses supported the prosecution's case, and the doctor who examined the deceased concluded that he died of a heart attack.

"Apart from a single contusion, no injury was found on the deceased. Thus, it cannot be said that deceased died a homicidal death," the judge said.

"From all the aforesaid evidence, it is apparent that a petty quarrel is tried to be blown out of proportion by over implicating the accused persons only because of the death of the deceased due to heart attack immediately after the incident and as such, it cannot be said that prosecution has been successful in bringing home the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt," the court said, acquitting both the men. PTI COR KRK