Scattered clumps of hair found at the crime scene constituted “clinching evidence” to show that Mumbai teenager Jhanvi Kukreja was brutally assaulted before being murdered in 2021, a city court held while sentencing her friend Shree Jogdhankar to life imprisonment in the case.
The court had, however, acquitted the victim’s other friend and co-accused, Diya Padalkar, observing that her “complicity in the commission of the crime” was doubtful.
The sentence was pronounced on January 31, while the detailed order was made available on Tuesday.
Kukreja (19) was killed on January 1, 2021, in a building at Khar in western Mumbai while attending a New Year’s Eve party. According to police, she was assaulted on the staircase and murdered after the party on the building’s terrace.
The prosecution alleged that the teenager was dragged down the stairs from the fifth floor after a fight broke out among the three friends over Jogdhankar’s intimacy with Padalkar.
Additional Sessions Judge Satyanarayan Navandar convicted Jogdhankar for murder under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
Khar NYE murder: Violent scuffle took place on staircase, concludes court
In the reasoned order, the court concluded that a violent scuffle took place on the staircase between the eighth and second floors of the building as the group was leaving the terrace.
While there were no eyewitnesses to the actual killing, the judge relied on what he described as a “complete chain of circumstances”. The court rejected the defence theory of an accidental fall or suicide, noting that Jogdhankar’s failure to raise an alarm or assist the victim was highly incriminating.
“These arguments cannot be accepted. The mental state of the deceased was not such as would lead her to commit suicide. There was no reason for a young girl to end her life,” the court ruled.
It further observed that had the incident been suicidal or accidental, the conduct of accused No 1 would have been entirely different.
“He would not have left the spot without attending to the deceased. Instead, the accused would have raised an alarm, called other partygoers and made efforts to save her life,” the court said.
The judge also noted that the victim would not have “sustained numerous injuries as noted in the post-mortem report” had it been an accidental fall or suicide.
Khar NYE murder: Court cites clumps of hair as ‘clinching evidence’ of assault; rejects FIR delay claims
Further, the court said there was no explanation for large amounts of the victim’s hair being found scattered at the scene.
Bunches of hair recovered from the spot and on the staircases of the second and first floors indicated a fierce assault, the court observed.
“The scattered bunches of hair are clinching evidence of violence, showing how brutally she was assaulted just before her fall,” it said.
The defence argument regarding delay in the registration of the FIR was also rejected, with the court holding that the police had followed a proper course of investigation.
Police officers first conducted a preliminary inquiry by gathering material from witnesses present at the party and, after arriving at a tentative conclusion, registered the FIR, the court noted.
“No intention to delay the registration of the FIR can be attributed either to the police machinery or to the victim in the case,” it added.
`Shree Jogdhankar assaulted Jhanvi Kukreja, pushed her from staircase`
On the basis of evidence on record, the court held that the victim appeared to have been pushed or thrown from the staircase, resulting in fatal head injuries.
During the fight, Jogdhankar furiously assaulted Kukreja, pulled her hair and ultimately pushed her from the staircase, the court said.
The judge observed that if a person is pushed or thrown from the second floor, there is every possibility of death, and hence the act committed by Jogdhankar “amounts to murder”.
The court also emphasised that Jogdhankar’s post-incident conduct played a crucial role in establishing his guilt.
It noted that he failed to give details of his injuries and provided a false history to the doctor treating him at the hospital.
When contacted by friends after the incident, Jogdhankar remained “cool-headed and indifferent” and did not mention the victim’s fall, the court said.
“All these activities of the accused No. 1 post-incident are suggestive of his culpability,” it ruled.
As far as Padalkar was concerned, the judge said the prosecution had proved her presence at the scene of the crime, but her “complicity in the commission of the crime” had not been established.
No common intention between the two accused to commit murder was proved, and therefore Padalkar was entitled to the benefit of doubt, the court held.
(With PTI inputs)
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