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This is an archive article published on October 11, 2011
Two held guilty of 2008 double murder
Additional Sessions Judge SP Tawade held them guilty of murdering brothers Sunil Vitthal Godambe and Dhananjay Dattatraya Godambe.
Two persons were on Monday held guilty of a 2008 double murder. Additional Sessions Judge SP Tawade held them guilty of murdering brothers Sunil Vitthal Godambe and Dhananjay Dattatraya Godambe. During trial,a police-patil (village policeman),who had reported an eyewitness statement of the incident to a police inspector at Hinjewadi police station,retracted and turned hostile.
The eyewitness himself,however,deposed in court and his statement matched with the version of the police inspector. This and the examination of 16 other witnesses helped the prosecution in proving guilt of the two,Raju Maruti Dhumal (38) of Kishkindanagar in Kothrud and Nitin Prakash Shelar (28) from Ghotawade. The court found them guilty of murdering Sunil,who was 29 then and Dhananjay,who was 34 years old when he died.
According to the prosecution,the murder was the fallout of a rivalry that began over a decade back between Raju and the two brothers over a petty quarrel. The rivalry surfaced every now and then and peaked on April 20,2008 when Raju tried to run over Dhananjay,in the process injuring his wife,whose hand suffered a fracture,according to the prosecution.
The next month,the brothers were killed. On May 8,Raju and Nitin were seen chasing the Godambe brothers who were on a motorcycle,stopping them and attacking them with iron rods and bamboo sticks in Mann village near Hinjewadi. The matter was reported to Tukaram Bhoir who called up Hinjewadi police station and informed a police inspector at the police station. Additional public prosecutor Ramesh Ghorpade said Bhoir later turned hostile but the inspector’s version of Bhoir’s earlier statement matched with eyewitness account.
The defence had tried to prove that the brothers died in an accident.
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