Mere motive not enough to prove guilt: HC

Tiwari was accused of killing one Kathiyawadi Baba on the night of January 20,1998 by hitting him with big stone.

Tiwari used to manage Bhuteshwar Mahadev temple at Palghar in the neighbouring Thane district. He was jailed by the railway police in connection with a minor offence,and in the meantime Baba took over the temple.

Reportedly,there was quarrel between the two as Tiwari wanted to take over the temple’s affairs again.

The Sessions court convicted Tiwari on the basis of prosecution witnesses’ testimonies about animosity between Tiwari and the deceased man.

However,after hearing the appeal filed by Tiwari,division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and S C Dharmadhikari observed that there was not a single eyewitness.

“Mere existence of motive would not by itself be sufficient…there is no evidence connecting accused with the crime,” the bench said.

“Conviction can not be passed on the basis of probabilities,” High Court said.

One of the witnesses had allegedly seen Tiwari picking up the stone in the temple yard the same evening prior to the killing and had asked him the purpose.

Tiwari allegedly shot back and said “mind your own business”.

But the High Court held that this could not be connected to the killing without any corroborating evidence.

Judges also wondered why the stone which killed Baba was never sent for chemical and fingerprints analysis.

“Investigation has been conducted in a very casual manner,” the court observed,reversing sessions court’s ruling last week.