Verdict in Datta Samant casr this week

Verdict in Datta Samant casr this week
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

JULY 23: Three years after he was shot dead while leaving his residence at Powai, the Sessions Court is expected to pronounce its judgement on the Datta Samant murder case this week. Additional Sessions Judge M L Tahaliani, who began dictating the judgement almost two weeks ago, is close to the conclusion of his findings, according to prosecution and defence lawyers.

The case, that caps one of the most violent trade union eras in the state, involved 75 witnesses, six eyewitnesses, one main prosecution witness who suddenly turned turtle and refused to testify to the statements made before the police, questions of sanction from competent authorities since arms were recovered from places like Kolhapur and Ahmedabad, and had the court itself call for the son of Datta Samant, Bhushan, to the witness box, though he was not listed as a prosecution witness by the police.

The main accused in the case are Arun Anandrao Londe, Vijay Ramchandra Thopte and Ganpat Bhikaji Bamne who, the prosecution claimed had shot Samant in his chest in 1997. Samant, the firebrand trade union leader of the Kamgar Aghadi, had just left his residence when he was shot dead at point blank range. Along with him, his driver, Bhimrao Sonkamble was also shot, though Sonkamble turned hostile during the prosecution claiming he was shot and in pain and could not see anyone.

A total of nine persons are accused in the case. Apart from the three earlier mentioned, the other accused are Prakash Sawant, Bhagwat Kunwarsingh Thakur alias Bharat Nepali, Raju Umakant Baje aka Bedkya, Ramesh Patil, Sanjay Devkar aka Holder and Ashok Vishnu Satardekar. Another accused SuhasMadhusudan Adkar has been discharged from the case. Of these, while Nepali is absconding, apart from the four-Londe, Thopte, Baje and Bamne, the rest are on bail. While the three Londe, Thopte and Bamne are charged by the prosecution with actually firing the shots, the rest are accused of being a part of the conspiracy.

According to the prosecution, presented by public prosecutor Kalpana Chavan, the motive behind the killing was union rivalry where Ramesh Patil defected from the Kamgar Aghadi and started his own union when the Kurla unit of Premier Automobiles closed down. Among the accused is Ashok Satardekar, who the prosecution claimed is the secretary of the Tilak Nagar Ganpati Committee, which is said to be patronised by the Chhota Rajan gang. The nexus with the underworld, and the conspiracy factors lead to the brutal killing of Samant, the prosecution stated.

However, the defence argued that there were no eyewitnesses to any of the charges traded by the prosecution. Defence lawyers, including Satish Maneshinde counted on the fact that one of the main eyewitness, Narkar had changed his version recorded before the police, and the driver had refused to identify any of the accused. Besides, they argued that the ballistic reports do not tally with the test fired bullets from the weapons recovered and that while the medical reports say four weapons were used, the ballistic experts put it at two.

The defence lawyers also contended that sanctions for prosecution under the Arms Act, against persons, from whom weapons were recovered in Kolhapur and Ahmedabad, were not obtained from the police commissioners of the local areas, and hence the sanction of the police commissioner in Mumbai, was illegal.

An interesting feature of the case was that the court itself called Bhushan, the son of Datta Samant to the courtroom to hear him, since he was the person who accompanied his father to the hospital where he was declared dead. However, he was not an eyewitness to the shooting.