Thane court acquits six in 2011 extortion case

A court in Maharashtra’s Thane district has acquitted six men, including a social worker, in a 14-year-old case of extortion and wrongful restraint, citing absence of evidence.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Vikram M Karhadkar cleared all six accused of charges under sections 384 (extortion) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after the sole prosecution witness failed to support the case, which stemmed from a 2011 incident.

A copy of the order passed on August 27 was made available on Sunday.

The court acquitted Santosh Shivram Sonawane, Kailash Narsing Bakule, Sushant Sayaji Jadhav, Sachin Vijay Chavan, Pradeep Shantaram Gole, and Sunil Deepak Khambe. Another accused in the case passed away during the pendency of the trial.

According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on February 5, 2011, at the Anand Nagar Octroi Naka in Kopri, Thane.

A deputy octroi inspector alleged that individuals in parked vehicles were intercepting truck drivers, illegally collecting Rs 200 from them, and issuing membership receipts for the “Adhunik Bharat Driver and Cleaner Sangh”.

The prosecution examined only the complainant, who failed to support the state’s case. Consequently, the court dispensed with recording the statement of the accused under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) as no incriminating material emerged against them.

The court held that despite granting ample opportunity to the prosecution, no other witness was examined, and there was no other documentary or circumstantial evidence available in the case.

“Overall, since there is no oral, documentary, or circumstantial evidence available against the accused in the present case, nothing is established against the accused,” it stated.