Pawanraje Nimbalkar murder case: 8 accused, including Sunetra Pawar’s brother, acquitted

The CBI has said it will challenge the acquittal in the High Court. Nimbalkar’s son, Omraje, a Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha member from Dharashiv, also said the family would challenge the acquittal in the High Court.

Omraje, who is among the MPs expected to quit the Shiv Sena (UBT) to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, had maintained that he would take a final decision after the verdict in the murder case. On Saturday, he said: “The court verdict and my political decision are two completely different issues. Linking the two is ridiculous”.

Omraje was present in the courtroom during the pronouncement of the judgment. Patil was brought in an ambulance and was seated on a wheelchair.

Nimbalkar and his driver, Samad Kazi, were shot dead on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on June 3, 2006. While Nimbalkar and Patil were cousins, they had a strained relationship after 2002 due to various reasons including allegations of irregularities in the sugar cooperatives and banks they were both part of.

Nimbalkar’s family named Patil as a suspect, alleging that the murder took place due to political rivalry. Two years before the murder, Patil had won the then Osmanabad (now Dharashiv) Lok Sabha seat, defeating Nimbalkar by just 484 votes.

The court said it was proven that the two were political opponents. “However, such developments are not unseen or rare in politics,” it said, adding that “proof of motive by itself is not proof of conspiracy”.

The case was first probed by the Navi Mumbai police. Nimbalkar’s family later approached the Bombay High Court, and the case was transferred to the CBI in 2008. The case was also transferred from the Alibaug sessions court to the Mumbai court by the Supreme Court after allegations of influence against Patil.

In its chargesheet, the CBI claimed that Patil, with two others, had conspired to kill Nimbalkar due to apprehensions that he may affect his political career. It also claimed that Nimbalkar’s allegations of corruption had angered Patil.

Several witnesses turned hostile during the trial.

The CBI claimed that a contract to kill was given to one Parasmal Jain, who allegedly arranged three shooters and other logistics. Jain later turned approver. He was discharged by the court on Saturday as he had already been granted pardon earlier.

The CBI relied on Jain’s testimony, detailing the roles played by each of the accused — from conspiracy to planning logistics, procurement of weapons, tracking of Nimbalkar’s movements, along with other documentary and technical evidence, including ballistics tests on the weapons.

But the Special Court on Saturday said that Jain’s testimony was “self-contradictory, highly suspicious and unreliable”. It also noted that Jain was kept in illegal custody for 17 days, subjected to torture, denied food and medicines, and given false promises. The court said Jain was accepted by the CBI as an approver only in 2019, 13 years after the charges were framed and after the closing of the prosecution’s case.

The court also discarded confessional statements given by two of the accused before the magistrate as the required procedure was not followed. It said the CBI had not seized any mobile phones of the accused, nor had their call data or travel records been brought before the court to corroborate other evidence.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said he and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had discussed the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, following which directions were issued to the CBI to file an appeal against the acquittal order.