Sessions court acquits 6 in lynching of goon’s brother

Nagpur: The session court here has acquitted six persons accused of killing dreaded goon Bhuru’s brother Sheikh Iqbal Sheikh Rehman, on October 9, 2012.

Judge Bhushan Kshirsagar on Tuesday absolved the accused, Deepak Nirmalkar, Sanjeevan Pal, Santosh Yadav, Ishwari Shahu, Ramprasad Verma, and Mukesh Shahu, of murder charges after the prosecution failed to prove that they were part of the mob that lynched the goon in full public view. The court discarded testimony of the witnesses who couldn’t identify the attackers.

Sheikh Iqbal Sheikh Rehman was brutally lynched by angry slum dwellers, mostly comprising women from Vasantrao Naik Nagar slums on Amravati Road.

The mob used sticks, cricket bats and even stones to kill Rehman at a stretch on the footpath near Maharajbagh gate.

Bhuru and his brother used to terrorize the slum-dwellers, abuse women, ran gambling dens, and even murdered and buried a person inside the slums.

The mob chased the alleged goon, killed him and dragged his badly mutilated body several feet on the footpath. Later, the slum dwellers pelted stones, damaged police vehicles and also set some of them on fire. They also clashed with Sitabuldi police who tried to control them.

The incident was a chilling reminder of dreaded goon Akku Yadav’s lynching inside the district and session court premises.

Cops rushed a profusely bleeding Iqbal to Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) where he was declared brought dead. The sensational murder hogged media limelight after which six cops were suspended after it came to fore that Bhuru and his gang had murdered one Rohit Jain and buried him at the slum with cops having no clue.

The slum dwellers were perturbed with Bhuru who was forcing them to dig out body of Jain and bury it at another place as he apprehended police raid.

When the slum dwellers resisted, Bhuru and his accomplices started abusing and thrashing them. When the harried residents started retaliating, the goons tried to flee the spot, but the mob chased them, caught hold of them and thrashed them. Cops later recovered Jain’s body and slapped MCOCA charges against Bhuru and his gang.