The Bombay high court has upheld the life sentence of a city-based woman for killing her husband with the help of her alleged lover, who was a co-accused in the conspiracy. The court, however, acquitted the co-accused as the prosecution failed to prove the charges against him. A division bench of Justice Vijaya Tahilramani and Justice A.R. Joshi was hearing the two appeals filed by Aswini Sakpal (24) and Pramod Dashrath (30), challenging their convictions awarded by the sessions court. “It is a must for Sakpal to give a plausible explanation as to how the victim, Ganesh, had died that night. This is more so when the death was definitely not on account of any heart failure or any other natural cause, but due to strangulation and compression of the neck, resulting in an unnatural death,” observed the court. Acting on the appeals, the court observed that on the basis of the evidence produced before the court, it is clear that Sakpal was in the company of her husband when he lost his life and she, along with the other person, took him to the hospital for treatment where he was declared dead. Quashing the conviction of Dashrath, the court said that there was no material placed before the court that could prove his guilt. According to the prosecution, Sakpal used to live in Govandi with her husband Ganesh. She reportedly had an illicit relationship with Dashrath with whom she wanted to marry and, therefore, committed the murder by strangulation. This was apparently done by both the accused in order to do away with the victim, as he had become an obstacle for Sakpal and Dashrath, the prosecutor said. Allowing Dashrath’s appeal against his conviction, the court said, “As mentioned above, so far as Dashrath is concerned, apart from his reference in the confessional statement of Sakpal, there is no material available on record to independently construe his role in the matter.”
