Worker gets life imprisonment for 2016 murder of woman over quarrel between neighbours in Susgaon

Pune: A sessions court has convicted and sentenced a casual worker (51) to life imprisonment for murdering a woman over a previous quarrel between neighbours in a chawl in Susgaon on Feb 16, 2016.The court relied on the testimony by three injured eyewitnesses and also rejected the accused's plea for legal insanity, holding that the same should be supported by medical papers or testimony by medical experts."The evidence of the prosecution witnesses has gone unchallenged in material particulars and nothing has been brought on record in cross-examination to impeach their credibility," additional sessions judge HM Bhosale observed, while convicting Mukind Sheku Hate. The court also sentenced Hate to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for attempt to murder one of the injured eyewitnesses. The sentences are to run concurrently, the court said.Public prosecutor Javed Khan said the accused and the victims lived in adjacent rooms in the Susgaon chawl. Following a prior quarrel, the accused stabbed Nandabai Kamble and attacked three members of a neighbouring family, who attempted to intervene. The injured were taken to hospital, where Kamble was declared dead.The court held that the prosecution had proved that the accused fatally stabbed his neighbour and injured three others during the assault. The court found that the testimony of injured eyewitnesses consistent and unshaken despite cross-examination, and it was corroborated by medical evidence establishing stab injuries sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature.On the insanity plea, the court said, "It was open for the accused to examine his treating doctors. There are no attempts even to call the said treating doctors as witnesses." It further took note of evidence indicating that the accused was attending his work and managing routine affairs, stating, "The accused was doing his work daily… He was attending his work punctually."