Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Mar 24: The third additional district and sessions court on Saturday March 24 acquitted three persons in the Bajrang Dal leader Rajesh Poojary murder case.

Irshad (23), Imran (21) and Hussain (23), who had been arrested for the murder, have been absolved of all charges. Among them, Imran was a juvenile at the time of his arrest.

The murder had taken place in March 2014. In the early hours of the morning, Rajesh Poojary, a resident of Bantwal, had been hacked to death by a gang near an auto rickshaw stand in Benjanapadavu. As the murder was committed earlier morning, there were no eyewitnesses.

Rajesh had been accused in the murder of Iqbal, and was murder soon after he came out on bail.

Even after 10 days of the murder, the police had failed to make any arrests. After a string of protests, the government agreed to hand over the case to the CoD. Thereafter, the accused were arrested on March 31, 2014 by the Bantwal police and a chargesheet was filed,

The prosecution produced 24 witnesses in the case and 47 documents, but owing to inconsistent statements of the witnesses and the absence of eyewitnesses, the prosecution failed to establish the guilt, and the court declared the accused as innocents.

Lawyer Shashiraj Kavoor was the defence counsel for the three youngsters.

It may be mentioned here that some organizations like the DYFI had staged protests claiming that innocents had been arrested in the case. Welcoming the verdict, DYFI president said, "We always knew that the three were innocent. The police arrested them out of pressure, and we had held a strong protest against this. We had full faith in the judiciary and today our trust has been vindicated."