Victim and accused assaulted each other, he pushed her from 2nd floor causing her death: Court on Jhanvi Kukreja murder

Jogdhankar has been behind bars since 2021. The court had acquitted co-accused 23-year-old Diya Padalkar, saying she deserves the ‘benefit of doubt.’

The 81-page detailed judgment passed by additional sessions judge S R Navander was made available on Tuesday. The court said the evidence showed that Kukreja and Jogdhankar were in a relationship and she was hurt by his flirtatious behaviour towards Padalkar at the party due to which she had felt hurt and called a friend. She had told the friend that she did not feel good about their proximity but did not want to lose them. She had then gone towards the staircase, and was followed by the two accused.

“In the natural course, an altercation ensued, which escalated into a violent and furious fight. From the scene of the offence and the medical evidence regarding the injuries sustained by the deceased, it appears that she was pushed or thrown from the staircase, resulting in fatal head injuries. The only inference from the above circumstances is that accused No.1 (Jogdhankar), during the fight, furiously assaulted her, pulled her hair, and ultimately pushed her from the staircase,” the court said.

‘Unexplained injuries’

The court took into account the medical report of Jogdhankar which showed 12 injuries caused to him including fractures on his ribs and abrasions and contusions on his back. “According to the accused, he is innocent. However, he has not explained as to how he had sustained numerous injuries at the relevant time. It was the fact within the exclusive knowledge of the accused and….the burden was lying upon him to make the disclosure, to establish his innocence. Giving no satisfactory explanation about the injury on his person compels the court to draw an inference that those injuries were sustained by him during the scuffle with the deceased,” the court said.

There were no eyewitnesses to the fight or CCTV cameras in the exact spot on the staircase from the eight floor to the ground floor where Kukreja’s body was found by a building resident after 2am.

‘Girl witnessing horrible incident may react differently’

On Padalkar’s involvement, the court said that while the police had claimed that she and Jogdhankar had a common intention to cause their friend’s death, no such proof was found. The prosecution had relied on a lip injury caused to her to claim she was also involved in the scuffle. The court said that might have had an altercation with Kukreja with some shoving or scuffling involved, resulting in the injury on the lip but her active participation in the assault cannot be seen.

“…no other injuries were proved to have been caused to her. Her clothes were neither blood-stained nor torn. Had she actively participated in the assault along with accused No.1, she would likely have sustained other injuries such as abrasions or contusions. The absence of such injuries makes her involvement in the fatal assault doubtful,” the court said, acquitting Padalkar.

The police had claimed that the fact that both the accused did not disclose that a scuffle had taken place, nor alerted anyone about the injuries caused to Kukreja, points to their role. The court said that Padalkar may have not disclosed due to fear. “A girl witnessing such a horrible incident may react differently. Due to fear, she might not have disclosed the happenings to the others. Merely, because of her non-disclosure, she cannot be held to be an accomplice,” the court said.

Kukreja’s mother, Nidhi, had said on Saturday that she will be filing an appeal against the acquittal.