Thane: A Thane sessions court acquitted five men accused in a 2018 kidnapping and murder case, observing that the prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence in the alleged “train throw” killing. Principal District and Sessions Judge S. B. Agrawal, in a judgment delivered on Wednesday, cleared Ravi Ashok Choudhary (37), Rajendraprasad Shivyadnya Tiwari (47), Sanjivkumar Upadhyay (38), Ashokkumar Shukla (40), and Ramashankar Tiwari (28) of all charges, including murder (Section 302) and criminal conspiracy (Section 120-B). According to the prosecution, Surendra Mishra was killed over his alleged relationship with the daughter of one of the accused. The court noted that the case rested entirely on circumstantial evidence and lacked direct testimony. The court also pointed out that key witnesses, including the victim’s girlfriend and nearby shopkeepers, did not support the prosecution’s version, and on medical evidence, court said the post-mortem findings were consistent with an accidental death.
