Gujarat court acquits two of murder after victim found to be alive

Police filed a charge sheet against the duo despite the presumed victim’s family saying he was alive

A court in Gujarat's Navsari has acquitted two persons after finding out that the man, for whose alleged murder they were arrested six years ago, was alive.

The court of additional sessions judge Saranga Vyas in an order issued on March 30 also directed the investigating officer - the then inspector of Navsari (rural) police station - to pay ₹50,000 compensation to each of the two men for his "careless investigation" that caused mental and physical agony to them and also hurt their social reputation.

Accused Madan Pipladi and Suresh Batela were arrested on the basis of an FIR lodged at Navsari rural police station in Gujarat on July 6, 2016 for the alleged murder of Nagulal Gayari.

Mr. Gayari was presumed dead and the body recovered by the police was mistakenly identified as that of his by his family members due to resemblance.

The accused were kept in jail for nearly three months before being released on bail, while the trial against them continued under sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), and 114 (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), before the court acquitted them five days back.

Police had arrested the duo after wrongly identifying the body of a murder victim to be that of Mr. Gayari's, who had been missing for some time. Meanwhile, Mr. Gayari's family members took the body to their native place at Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh and performed the last rites.