The High Court has acquitted Vijayendra alias Chetan Arondekar in the 2016 Deepali Mehta murder case, setting aside the order of the Margao Sessions Court, which had earlier convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Deepali Mehta, a 20-year-old resident of Karwar, was found murdered at Cabo Da Rama beach in December 2016. The Sessions Court had held Arondekar guilty in the case, but the High Court, after reviewing the appeal, ruled in his favour and overturned the conviction.
The acquittal brings a new twist to the nearly decade-old case, which had drawn significant public attention at the time of the crime.