Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made it clear on Saturday: the CBI will be appealing the Nimbalkar verdict. In doing so, he has put in motion a legal and political tussle in Maharashtra, one that will directly go after the clean chit given to ex-home minister Padamsinh Patil and those charged in the slayings of Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver, Samad Kazi.
Government push for an appeal
You had us all in the same room in Kolhapur on Saturday when we were told of the decision,” Shinde said. “After the verdict came down, I and CM Devendra Fadnavis spoke with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He put the word to the CBI to make a challenge in a higher court, and they are on it.” Shinde was pointed in his remarks, singling out the acquittal of Patil and seven others as what the coming appeal would be about.
How the court viewed the evidence
It was a special CBI court in Mumbai that let all the accused off the hook on Saturday. For special judge Satyanaryan Navandar, the prosecution simply didn’t do enough to prove there was a conspiracy. Guilt, in his view, was not beyond a reasonable doubt.
There was the matter of an approver whose story kept changing from the investigation through to the trial. The court couldn’t put any stock in it. As the judge put it, you can’t convict on an approver’s word alone without some corroboration, so all nine were acquitted.
Politics at the doorstep, family distances itself
The verdict only added to the case’s political flavour, especially with Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar, the MP and son of the slain Pawanraje, in the public eye. Not long before, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena (UBT) had put it out there that Omprakash was being dangled a good outcome in his father’s case. Omprakash wouldn’t have any of it on Friday. ‘What’s the point in tying my father’s murder to the way things are politically? If that was the game, I would have been with the ruling side back in 2022 for a faster judgment,’ he said.
A verdict delayed, then delivered
Everyone was looking for the Mumbai CBI court to come out with its say on June 16. They put it off until the 20th and finally handed down the ruling on Saturday, absolving the accused of the murder and conspiracy counts.
The 2006 killings and investigation trail
Back on June 3, 2006, two men cut off Nimbalkar’s car in Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai, and put him and his driver down where they stood. The Navi Mumbai police were on it at first, but the Bombay High Court eventually passed the file to the CBI. In time, the CBI put nine in the dock, among them Padamsinh Patil, who was an MP with the undivided NCP. Patil was cuffed in June 2009 and bailed by an Alibaug court in September. From there it was on to the special CBI court for trial.
What to watch next
Now that the leaders are on record for an appeal, the case is on to the next forum. The CBI is going to put a new spin on the debate over the evidence and what the court made of the approver’s testimony. This is where things stand, per the officials and the court: – An appeal from the CBI to a higher court – A contest of the acquittal for Patil and the rest – More of a hard look at the conspiracy charge It’s the state’s way of having another go at a verdict that hinged on who you could believe. Whether the higher court sees the chain of events in a different light will tell if this, one of the most followed cases in the state, is done or if it’s to be opened up once more.
