CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has dismissed the state government’s appeal against the trial court’s acquittal of gangster Anil Chhotray in the sensational murder of two contractors in Bhubaneswar in 2005.
Armed goons gunned down Subash Chandra Das and Dhiren Kumar Sethi outside Irrigation department’s Prachi Division office on April 18, 2005. Police arrested Chhotray from Jamshedpur on July 17, 2005 and named him as the prime accused in the twin murder.
Subsequently, the state government handed over the case to the Crime Branch for investigation. During trial, the prosecution story was that the deceased used to work as petty contractors and did not succumb to the pressure from Chhotray’s gang. The case was based on circumstantial evidence.
The court of Second Additional Sessions Judge (Bhubaneswar) acquitted Chhotray and 17 others for want of evidence against them on May 22, 2015. The government had then filed an appeal in the high court.
The division bench of Justice BP Routray and Justice Chittaranjan Dash dismissed the appeal observing, the circumstances relied upon by the prosecution are neither fully established nor conclusively linked to the guilt of the accused.
“The alleged motive of tender rivalry remains unsubstantiated, as multiple witnesses, including the family members of the deceased, denied any prior threats or conflicts with the accused persons. The ballistic report failed to conclusively link the bullets recovered from the deceased to the firearms allegedly seized from the accused-respondents, creating a significant gap in the chain of evidence,” the bench held.
“Given these discrepancies, the trial court rightly acquitted the accused-respondents, and this court finds no reason to interfere with the well-reasoned decision of acquittal,” the bench noted in its February 14 judgment, the full text of which was released on Monday.