Published On : Wed, Jan 22nd, 2014

HC quashes death sentence, lifer of 2 convicts in Dhanashri murder, acquits them

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Nagpur News: The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has acquitted the convicts in the sensational Dhanashri Nilkanth Ramteke murder case.

The Additional District and Sessions Judge had found them guilty of Dhanashri’s murder and awarded death sentence to the main convict Dharamvir Sriram Chavan and life imprisonment his accomplice Pankaj alias Sonu alias Cherry Sadashiv Rautkar.

According to reports, the horrible murder had taken place on August 14, 2012. Dharamvir Sriram Chavan, resident of Gittikhadan, was studying in a college. Dharamvir and Dhanashri were intimate friends. However, Dharamvir suspected Dhanashri had love affairs with other youth. The suspicion outraged Dharamvir and he planned a diabolical way to kill Dhanashri. He phoned Dhanashri on August 14, 2012 and called her at a specific place. When Dhanashri reached the spot, Dharamvir and his accomplice Pankaj alias Sonu alias Cherry Sadashiv Rautkar strangulated her with the help of a rope. Both the convicts, in order to destroy evidence, took body of Dhanashri to an isolated place in Gittikhadan and set her body on fire with the help of a tyre. The next day, Dhanashri’s 70 per cent burnt body was recovered by the police.

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The Gittikhadan police succeeded in arrested both Dharamvir and Pankaj alias Sonu and chargesheeted them in the District and Sessions Court in Nagpur. The Additional District and Sessions Judge K L Vyas had found them guilty and awarded death sentence to Dharamvir and life imprisonment to Pankaj alias Sonu alias Cherry Sadashiv Rautkar.

Both the convicts challenged their conviction in the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court. The Double Bench of Justice Bhushan Gavai and Justice Atul Chandurkar overruled the judgement of Additional District and Sessions Judge and acquitted both Dharamvir and Pankaj.

The convicted were represented by Advocates R K Tiwari, Deepika Gawli and Chandrashekhar Jaltare. The prosecutors were represented by the Government Pleader Sanjay Doifode.