Five persons accused in a theft case were acquitted after a Mangaluru court found that the theft victim, who is the complainant, compromised with the accused and turned hostile.
The First Additional Senior Civil Judge and Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mangaluru, G.M. Lakshmi on February 4, acquitted Fazil, Shafeeq, Hasanabba, Muneer and Ibrahim. They were accused of entering Shantheri Kamakshim Traders Grocery and General Stores in Bajpe in the early hours of October 24, 2017 and going away with articles namely pepper, cashew, grocery, cigarettes, ghee, gutka and laptop, in all worth ₹ 1.07 lakh.
While taking note of hostile evidence of the complainant K. Vishwananda Pai, the owner of grocery store, the Magistrate observed: “It appears that the accused and the complainant have compromised and settled the issue.” Since complainant has not supported the prosecution case, the complaint marked as ‘exhibit P1 ‘ will not help the prosecution to prove the guilt of accused persons. As prosecution has miserably failed to prove the guilt of the accused persons, they are being acquitted, the Magistrate observed.
Published - February 10, 2025 09:29 pm IST
