A special court in Mumbai today acquitted former Maharashtra Home Minister Padamsinh Patil and seven others in the 2006 murder case of Maharashtra Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver. Special CBI Court Judge Satyanarayan Navandar said the prosecution had failed to establish the chain of conspiracy. The prosecution primarily relied on the testimony of accused-turned-approver Parasmal Jain. However, the court found his testimony doubtful and rejected it, observing that it did not establish the sequence of events.
Patil, a former NCP MP and stepbrother of Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, and seven others were facing trial in the case. Pawanraje Nimbalkar’s son, Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar, is currently a Lok Sabha member from the Shiv Sena (UBT).
On 3rd June 2006, Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver, Samad Kazi, were travelling from Mumbai to Osmanabad (now Dharashiv) when two hitmen intercepted their car at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai and opened fire, killing both on the spot.
The Navi Mumbai Police initially investigated the case, but the Bombay High Court later transferred it to the Central Bureau of Investigation after Pawanraje Nimbalkar’s wife expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of the probe. Patil was arrested in June 2009 after the central agency took over the investigation. However, a sessions court in Alibaug, Raigad district, granted him bail in September that year.
