Thane court drops 2 charges against ex-minister Jitendra Awhad in engineer kidnap, assault case

The police had claimed that Awhad, who was then the housing minister, was involved in the abduction and assault of the engineer, Anant Karmuse, over a morphed photo of the minister shared on social media.

Under the earlier two charges which were dropped, the accused would have had to face trial before a sessions court and if found guilty, could have faced a minimum of life imprisonment.

Awhad had sought for all charges against him to be dropped claiming that there was no evidence to show his involvement in the alleged assault of Karmuse. He had said that he was in fact cited as a witness in the initial chargesheets.

The police had stated that the assault took place at Awhad’s ‘Naad’ bungalow in Thane and he was named an accused in the third chargesheet based on evidence found during the probe.

“One may note that even though there is no personal involvement of the accused no. 13 (Awhad) in abduction or assault by fist and kicks but impugned episode had occurred at ‘Naad’ bungalow and it was in the presence of bodyguards and personal security. Therefore, there is involvement of accused no. 13,” the court said in its order on October 8.

Awhad’s lawyer, V A Bhanushali, had also submitted that the police had wrongly invoked section 364A of the India Penal Code in the case as it relates to kidnapping for ransom from the government or its agencies with a minimum punishment of life imprisonment and it did not apply to this case.

He also said that section 367 (kidnapping with intent to cause grievous hurt) IPC was not applicable against the accused.

Additional sessions judge G G Bhanushali said that the investigating agency had brought no evidence to justify invoking both the sections. “The history behind insertion of Section-364-A and legislative intent for amendment in 1993 is to curtail militant and naxalite activities,” the court said. It also said that the medical certificate shows that Karmuse had sustained ‘simple injuries’ and hence section 367 IPC could not have been added.

Karmuse had said in his complaint that he was kidnapped and brought to the then minister’s bungalow in April 2020 and was assaulted in the presence of Awhad. Karmuse had said that his wife was called by Awhad and she was asked to delete the social media post and an apology was recorded.