MAHA ANAND FOR MAHANAND
CASE 3: ACQUITTAL
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MARCH 30
The Nirmal Amolkar murder case involving alleged dupatta killer Mahanand Naik has also ended in an acquittal, taking the tally of murder cases ending in an acquittal involving Mahanand to three so far.
In yet another major embarrassment for the Goa Police, the South Goa Sessions Court on Tuesday acquitted Mahanand of the charges of murder and robbery on grounds that the prosecution has failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the body lying in the morgue was that of Nirmal.
Given that Mahanand has been acquitted in the third murder case, his legal counsel, Joe Antao, has disclosed plans to send a notice to the director of a Konkani tiatr for virtually crucifying the accused without any evidence against him.
While acquitting the accused, Additional Sessions Judge Desmond D’Costa observed that no DNA test was carried out to determine the identity of the dead body. “It cannot be held that it was the body of Nirmal just because her brother Pundalik had identified the body as that of his sister”, he said.
Saying that the prosecution had to prove that the death was homicidal and that it was caused by the accused, the judge said the post mortem report conducted by Dr Avinash Poojary had stated there was no evidence of any fresh ante mortem injuries on the dead body.
Moreover, the judge referred to the deposition of Dr Poojary stating that opinion as to the exact cause of death cannot be given in view of decompositional changes.
“There is absolutely no evidence brought on record by the prosecution to show that the death of the woman was a homicidal death. There is also no direct nor circumstantial evidence to link the accused Mahanand with the death”, the judge observed.
Nirmal Amolkar had gone missing from her house on February 2008 and her dead body was found at Verna. A complaint was later filed by her brother Pundalik.
The prosecution contended the body was identified by Pundalik on the basis of her clothes, glass bangles and the nail polish on her fingers. The judge, however, said that Pundalik had admitted that the when he saw the dead body, it was fully decomposed and that the face could not be recognized.
Referring to Pundalik’s statement hat he has identified the dead body as that of his sister based on the nail polish, the judge said that Pundalik has admitted that he could not remember the colour of the nail polish usually used by the deceased and that he does not remember as to what was the colour of the nail on the nails of the deceased. “This shows that the second basis that he had identified the dead body as that of his sister, i.e. the nail polish on her fingers, also is not acceptable”, the judge added. The judge also did not accept Pundalik’s claim that he has identified the body based on the glass bangles.
The prosecution has also failed to prove that any information has been given by the accused while in police custody on July 4, 2009 and that the information has led to the discovery of any facts. “The evidence also does not also help the prosecution in any way to establish the nexus of the accused with the missing of the gold chain of the deceased”, the judge observed.
