23 March,2009 06:19 AM IST | | Agencies
In a complete reversal of fortune, a doctor sentenced to death for murdering a fellow doctor has not only been spared the noose but acquitted of all charges by the Bombay high court, reported the Times of India.
He walked free after spending six months on death row; his alleged accomplice too has been spared life imprisonment.
The high court held that the evidence placed before the trial court was "unreliable and unconvincing''. It cast aside the account of the sole eyewitness, saying he had hidden the fact that he was related to the victim.
Dr Arvind Aajabe, 35, a medical practitioner from Beed, had been charged with beating Dr Vijay Aajabe and his cousin Abasaheb to death on March 30, 2005.
Police said professional rivalry was the motive. Arvind had apparently threatened Vijay to shift his practice and hired goons to send across the message.
