15 January,2025 08:28 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Pic/File
A sessions court in Maharashtra's Osmanabad district (now known as Dharashiv) on Wednesday sentenced a school teacher to life imprisonment after relying on testimonies of multiple people, including a 9-year-old boy, reported the PTI.
The teacher was held for killing his colleague over a financial dispute nearly two years ago.
District and Additional Sessions Judge Vishwas Ganpat Mohite found the accused -- Dhiraj Babu Humbe -- guilty of the offence covered under IPC section 302 (murder) after relying on testimonies of multiple people, including a nine-year-old boy, presented as an eyewitness by the prosecution, according to the PTI.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him.
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A detailed order was not available yet.
As per case details, the accused, Dhiraj Babu Humbe and the victim, Shamrao Deshmukh, worked as teachers at a school in Osmanabad (Dharashiv), around 400 km from Mumbai, and lived in the same locality. Shamrao Deshmukh had borrowed money from Dhiraj Babu Humbe and his failure to repay it led to a dispute between the two, as per the PTI.
During the trial, the prosecution relied on the testimonies of Shamrao Deshmukh's sons, police, doctors and a nine-year-old eyewitness in the murder case.
The child witness had testified before the court. He had told the court that on the day of the incident (February 21, 2023), he was playing near his house when he saw Shamrao Deshmukh falling off his motorbike after being hit hard with a stone by the accused Dhiraj Babu Humbe.
Blood was oozing out from the victim's head, he told the court.
Shamrao Deshmukh's son, Vaishnav, had told the court that a friend called him and informed his father was lying in a pool of blood near the accused's house. Upon arriving at the crime scene, Vaishnav Deshmukh rushed his father to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and doctors declared him dead.
The police had later arrested Humbe in the matter.
"My father died due to an assault by means of stone by the accused. I went in the Osmanabad city police station and recorded my complaint," he had testified in the court.
(with PTI inputs)
