Ahmedabad: A city sessions court on Friday acquitted seven policemen in a case of murder of one Raju alias Kanti Thakkar in Sardarnagar police custody in 2013 and then attempting to destroy evidence by trying to dispose of his body. Additional sessions judge M P Purohit acquitted PSI Babu Patel, Bhadreshsinh Jadeja, Jagdish Patel, Dharmendrasinh Rana, Mukesh Patel, Kanji Vihol, and Dhiraj Desai by saying that the evidence presented by the prosecution could not establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt. One of the accused, an assistant sub-inspector, Ashok Bhatt, passed away during trial. The prosecution’s case was that other accused cops handed over Thakkar’s custody to Bhatt and Desai. Bhatt allegedly beat him mercilessly and it was Bhatt, along with Desai, who disposed of Thakkar’s body, which was later found from the Sabarmati riverbed. Thakkar had been detained on theft charges from a gambling den in Sarangpur. During the trial, the prosecution examined 66 witnesses. The court noted that Thakkar’s custody was handed over to Bhatt, who had died. Following hostility of witnesses, the court refused to rely wholly on the testimony of the investigator. tnn
