Pune: A sessions court in Baramati has sentenced three men to life imprisonment for brutally killing a young woman, Shital Barate and her father, Ramesh, at Hinganigada near Baramati on March 22, 2016.Additional sessions judge SR Patil accepted the prosecution’s case that the murder motive arose from accused Vishal Vatre’s interest in marrying Shital, a distant relative, and his intent to gain control over her father’s agricultural land, which the victims opposed.On the day of the incident, the victims had visited Vatre’s house at Masnarwadi and were returning home on a bike when Vatre and two others intercepted the bike at Hinganigada and attacked the father-daughter duo. The victims succumbed to critical injuries.The court held that the prosecution proved a criminal conspiracy and a complete chain of circumstantial evidence through call detail records (CDR), mobile tower location data, medical evidence and independent witness testimony.During the trial, the medical officers, who examined the deceased, deposed that Shital suffered multiple head injuries, including skull fractures and intracerebral bleeding, while Ramesh suffered serious throat injuries and other bodily trauma.The court accepted the medical opinion that the injuries were consistent with assault by sharp and hard objects and ruled out accidental causes.The court recorded that authenticated CDR and SDR reports showed repeated communication among the three accused in the days preceding the incident as well as on the day of the offence. Mobile tower location data placed accused Jaydip Jayram Chavan and Kerba Narayan Mergal near the spot of occurrence at the relevant time. The court held that the CDR analysis carried out during the investigation was corroborated by certified records produced by telecom nodal officers.The court relied on the testimony of independent witnesses who saw the accused in the vicinity of the place of occurrence around the time of the assault. It further took note of the evidence showing that Shital and her father were last seen leaving the house of accused Vishal Vatre shortly before the incident. Recoveries of weapons, blood stained clothes and other articles at the instance of the accused were also taken into consideration.
