Adnan probe loses plot, 'killers' win freedom

Four-and-a-half years after Mumbai teenager Adnan Patrawala was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by his friends, a trial court on Monday acquitted four accused in the case due to lack of evidence and the prosecution’s failure to prove their involvement in the crime. 

The sessions court let off Sujit Nair, Ayush Bhat, Rajeev Dharaiya and Amit Kaushal — all aged between 25 and 31— as the prosecution’s conspiracy theory fell flat. Neither did it have an eyewitness to nail the accused nor a confessional statement. The fifth accused in the case was tried by the juvenile justice board as he is a minor.

Adnan, 16, son of businessman Aslam Patrawala from Andheri’s Lokhandwala, was allegedly kidnapped by five friends on August 19, 2007. The police said the accused strangled him to death in Navi Mumbai after their plan to extract Rs2 crore in ransom from Adnan’s father failed.

The boys panicked after news of the kidnapping was reported in the media and allegedly killed the teenager. Adnan’s body was found the next day at an isolated place on Palm Beach Road in Sanpada, 500 metres away from his car.

“The verdict is an insult to our injury. But I know justice will be delivered to us one day,” said a distraught Aslam.   

In May 2009, the sessions court framed charges of kidnapping, murder, extortion and destruction of evidence against all the accused. Evidence submitted by the police included exchanges between Adnan and his alleged killers on Orkut, a social networking site. One of the accused told the police about the location where Adnan’s blood-stained clothes were hidden.

The police relied heavily on circumstantial evidence to nail the accused, but were unsuccessful.

A prosecution witness said he saw the accused help Adnan get into a car in a drowsy state. However, when quizzed further, he failed to give proper answers.

The court said the police handled evidences very crudely. The shirt with blood stains which allegedly belonged to Adnan did not help in the investigations.

The police could not even ascertain the blood group from the stains on the shirt. The court also questioned the prosecution’s claim about the recovery of the body.

Defence lawyer Ashish Chavan was euphoric after the verdict. “From the beginning, we knew that the accused would be acquitted as there was no evidence against them. The police said all the accused met at Inorbit mall on August 16, 2007, and made the plan to kidnap Adnan. However, Sujit’s mobile location proved that he was not at the mall then. The prosecution does not have enough evidence to prove anything,” he said. 

Though disappointed, Adnan’s family has no intentions of giving up. His father said he will approach the higher courts till his son’s killers are sent to the gallows.