11 years on, Thane court acquits 10 accused in murder case

A Thane court has acquitted all 10 accused in a 2014 murder and rioting case, noting that key witnesses failed to support the prosecution.

Additional Sessions Judge A S Bhagwat, in the order on Tuesday, said the prosecution could not prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case stemmed from an alleged violent clash in the Kalwa area of Maharashtra’s Thane city on December 16, 2014, resulting in the death of Bhaskar alias Shankar Anant Kadam and injuries to several others.

According to the prosecution, the accused, armed with knives and choppers, allegedly attacked Kadam and others.

During the trial, the prosecution examined 14 witnesses, including the deceased’s wife, who is the complainant in the case.

The court, however, observed that she denied the contents of her initial complaint that the accused had repeatedly struck the deceased.

The complainant also said in her cross-examination that she did not know the contents of the document she signed, and that she could not state the reasons behind the discrepancies in her statements.

The eyewitnesses also did not identify the assailants or confirm that they carried weapons.

The prosecution failed to establish the charges, including unlawful assembly, rioting, and murder, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Indian Arms Act, the judge noted while ordering the acquittal of 10 accused persons.

Another accused died during the pendency of the trial, and proceedings against him were abated in August 2024.

PCB sends legal notices to defaulting broadcast and business partners to clear dues.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has launched a strong campaign to recover dues to the tune of billions from defaulting franchises, broadcast and business partners in order to fill up the organisational coffer.

According to a PCB source, recently legal notices were sent to various PSL franchises, business and broadcast partners asking them to clear their pending dues to avoid facing any legal action, which could lead to cancellation of their respective contracts.

“Initially some defaulting franchises of the Pakistan Super League were also sent notices to clear their outstanding annual fees or face action. These franchises have now cleared their dues but also asked the board to clear their share from the central pool for the franchises pending since 2010,” the source said.

He said in response to a franchise’s grievance that their annual fees were delayed since the board had not cleared their full share of around PKR 96 crores from the central pool for the PSL 10th edition, the franchise was told bluntly that unless contracted parties don’t honor their commitments how can the board clear dues.

The source said the board still owed some franchises 40 to 45 crores from the central pool of the PSL for 2025.

The source said the biggest defaulter of the board was a company which was involved in securing broadcast, other media and business rights from the PCB for not only PSL but other international cricket but declared they had sustained huge losses and were yet to clear dues of around 4.5 billion PKR.

“Because of this the board has not been able to keep its financial records up to date and audit their accounts,” the source said.

He confirmed that the two new franchises in the PSL and the new owners of Multan Sultans had all paid their annual franchise fees and other dues before the start of the PSL 11 which concluded last Sunday.

“The thing is that while these new franchises are in the clear the board now has to pay them a guaranteed minimum amount of 85 crores PKR from PSL 11 and next four editions from the central pool,” the source added.

“The problem is they are also other defaulting parties who have brought various sponsorships, advertising and media spots from the board,” he said.

The fact remains that when PCB sold its broadcasting and streaming rights of the PSL 11 to a new party, which also owns the Rawalpindi franchise, they in turn, sublet rights to the same party, which remains a defaulter of billions of rupees.