Eight yrs on, man, mom acquitted of wife’s murder

MUMBAI: Eight years after a Bhandup homemaker was found lying dead in a drum at her home, a sessions court acquitted her husband, 77-year-old mother-in-law and sister-in-law of the murder after it could not be proved that the trio were even present in the house at the time of the murder.

The court also said that prosecution failed to prove motive of the accused to kill the deceased as no previous incident or any incident immediately prior to the incident, whereby inference of motive may be established, was proved by the prosecution.

Acquitting Ratan Chauhan and her children Usha Solanki (50) and Kiran Chauhan (47), the court pointed out that some other person may have entered in the house and committed the offence.

“As per case of prosecution, the incident spot is situated in a densely populated slum area, anyone can enter the house. This creates possibility that in the absence of the accused, some other person may have entered the house and committed the offence,” the court said.

The family said that they found the victim, Bharti Chauhan, alone at home as they had gone out for a function and returned on September 9, 2015 when they found her dead.

The court also said that looking at the nature of the offence, except recovery of a koyta, no other evidence by way of seizure of clothes worn by the accused at the time of the incident or other probable evidence by which presence and participation of the accused in the commission of the offence was collected and proved during trial.