BENGALURU: Three members of the dreaded Dandupalya gang, who were sentenced to death for murdering a person 17 years ago in Hubballi, were acquitted by the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday.
A division bench of Justices Ravi Malimath and John Michael Cunha set aside the judgment of a special court, which sentenced the trio to death for allegedly murdering Mallikarjun S Dekani of Hubballi.
The acquitted are Venkatesh alias Chandra, Munikrishna alias Krishna, both from Channasandra, Bengaluru rural district, and Nallathimma alias Thimma, from Balekatte in Periyapatna taluk of Mysuru district.
The bench said the prosecution had failed to present sufficient witnesses and that the fingerprints did not match with those of the accused. There was no corroboration of the prosecution witnesses and testimony, the bench said on Wednesday. There were no medical reports indicating that the victim died of injuries inflicted by the trio, the bench added in its judgment.
The case
February 19, 2000 the acquitted trio and one Lakshmamma entered the shop of Mallikarjun S Dekani in Hubballi. They tied him up and robbed him of `400 after assaulting him.