Jhanvi Kukreja murder case: Friend Jogdhankar sentenced to life imprisonment, co-accused acquitted

A Mumbai court on Saturday delivered its verdict in the sensational 2021 Jhanvi Kukreja murder case, sentencing her friend Shree Jogdhankar to life imprisonment, while acquitting another accused Diya Padalkar. On Diya Padalkars role, the sessions judge said the prosecution has established her presence at the crime spot, but her complicity in the commission of the crime is doubtful.

A Mumbai court on Saturday delivered its verdict in the sensational 2021 Jhanvi Kukreja murder case, sentencing her friend Shree Jogdhankar to life imprisonment, while acquitting another accused Diya Padalkar. Kukreja (19) was killed on January 1 in 2021 in a building in Khar in the western part of the metropolis, leading to the arrest of Jogdhankar and Padalkar, both of whom were the deceased's friends. Additional Sessions Judge Satyanarayan Navandar found Jogdhankar guilty of murder under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code. The court said the the post-incident acts of the accused are suggestive of his culpability. There is no circumstance pointing to his innocence, the court added. As per the police, Jogdhankar and Padalkar had assaulted and killed Kukreja after a New Year's Eve party on the terrace of a building and dragged her down the stairs from the fifth floor. The police had claimed the fight broke out over Jogdhankar's alleged intimacy with Padalkar. The prosecution, led by special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat, told court Kukreja had more than 40 injuries on her body. The prosecution also relied on the CCTV footage of the building which showed Jogdhankar leaving the spot ''calmly and quietly, appearing undisturbed, on the ground floor from the area where the body of Kukreja was lying''. If he was innocent, he should have raised an alarm upon seeing her body bleeding on the floor, it said. Gharat further submitted that Jogdhankar had given contradictory statements regarding his own injuries. The defence, however, claimed Kukreja died after Jogdhankar left the party and that he also had a conversation with her at around 2.05 am. On his injuries, Jogdhankar claimed he was attacked from behind on the staircase in the dark by someone he could not see. The court relied on circumstantial evidence as no eyewitnesses were present at the spot. Taking into account the facts of the case, the court noted the deceased was deeply hurt by the ''flirtatious behaviour'' of accused number one (Jogdhankar) during the party. In a state of distress, she left the gathering and went to the building's staircase. A quarrel broke out on the second-floor staircase between Jogdhankar and the deceased, the court stated. The argument escalated into a physical scuffle and in a fit of rage, the accused assaulted Kukreja and pushed her from the second floor, leading to her death, the order said. The court noted that if someone is pushed or thrown from the second floor, there is every possibility of causing death. Hence, the act done by Jogdhankar ''amounts to murder, '' the judge said. The court found that the post-incident conduct of Jogdhankar played a vital role in the case. It pointed out that the accused did not give details of the injuries and provided false history to the doctor at the hospital about the wounds. When contacted by friends after the incident, Jogdhankar remained ''cool-headed and indifferent,'' failing to mention the victim's fall, the court said. ''All these activities of accused number one post the incident are suggestive of his culpability. There is no circumstance pointing to the innocence of accused number one. Therefore, it is established that it was an act done by him,'' the court ruled. On Diya Padalkar's role, the sessions judge said the prosecution has established her presence at the crime spot, but her ''complicity in the commission of the crime'' is doubtful. No common intention between the two accused to commit murder has been established, the court said. Thus, she deserves to be given the benefit of doubt, the court said. Kukreja's mother, Nidhi, later said she has faith in the judiciary but added she was not convinced about Padalkar's acquittal. Her lawyer Trivankumar Karnani said, ''Padalkar's presence at the spot is accepted by the court, but still she has been given the benefit of doubt. We will study the verdict and decide about it accordingly.''

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