STATEMENT OF FACTS

Kamini Karia (hereinafter called deceased); a lawyer, was wife of Mr. Nishant Karia; a leading
businessman for last twelve years. After the wedlock they had a son, Aryan Karia, ten year old.
They were living in the deceaseds marital home but recently shifted to the HERMES VILLA,
Koregaon Park since last one year. She was one of the youngest to be promoted in Hobb &
Green- Attorneys and was loved by everyone because of her soft and gentle nature. Neha Mittal
(hereinafter called Accused No. 1) is her cousin (her Fathers brothers daughter) and married to
Pankaj Mittal (hereinafter called Accused No. 2) who was an Engineer. There was amicable
relationship between the two sisters as they had grown up together and also this relationship
manifested itself into a fiduciary one wherein deceased lent money to her sister to help her
catering business, Herbs & Spices Catering Co..
On 12/06/2004 Neha borrowed a sum of 20,00,000/- promising to return within four months.
Months passed but she didnt return the money even after several reminder and follow-ups.
Every time there was a reason as to why the money has not been returned. Because of some
reasons, Neha was finding it difficult to manage her Catering business because the business was
a little low. On 31/01/2005 Neha again convinced the deceased and borrowed 30,00,000/-,
against the wishes of Nishant. History again repeated itself and again kamini was left
disappointed at the fact that money that was owed had not been paid by Neha. Because of this
there were frequent arguments between the deceased and her husband and on the night of
27/03/2005, over the dinner, final ultimatum was given to Neha to pay the money due to them by
September as they need it. Feeling hurt at the insults and the way she was treated, she was to
have her revenge. Thus on 9/9/2005, Neha called-up Kamini and requested her to visit her at her
residence at Citadel Towers, N.I.B.M. Road, Pune. At 8 pm and she was happy because had
been peaking up. A meeting was fixed and Kamini called Nishant and informed him about the
same.
One month later on 10/10/2005 kaminis highly decomposed body was found in Malshej Ghat.
On 9/9/2005 kamini wrapped up her office work and left the office by 07:15 pm. The distance
between her office and Malshej ghat is twenty minutes but because of traffic it could be stretched
to thirty minutes on average. She called Nishant and told him that she is on her way to Citadel

Tower and just crossed the Hennerys Waffle Hut and also showed her concern to get at least a
part of lent amount. She said that she would call him up when leaving from there and this was
the last call from her phone recorded by Phone Company. Nishant had begun worried as it had
been half past midnight and Kamini didnt yet returned home as it was not like her not to inform
in case of delay. Feeling that something is not right he called up Neha to ask the whereabouts of
Kamini and she replied that Kamini didnt reach there so they thought meeting had been
cancelled. He also inquired about Kamini from her parents, Usha and Vinod Dasgupta who got
disturbed and the entire family decided to meet at their residence,
This was an unusual behavior and a missing complaint needed to be filed. At that time the very
much silent Neha begun to convince everyone not to file a missing complaint as she could have
been stuck in some work. She was not heard even after thirty six hours since disappearance they
filed a missing complaint on 11/09/2005 and also informed the police that a 2002 model of
Hyundai car, i10 silver colour, no. MH 12 HZ 30421, Kaminis car. On 12/09/2005 investigation
started with questioning the family members regarding the last known whereabouts of Kamini
and Nishant was considered a suspect but he was soon ruled out. He also added that Neha could
be the last person to have possibly seen Kamini as they had a scheduled meeting on that evening.
When police questioned Neha and Pankaj regarding their scheduled meeting, they were evasive
and told that she never visited them that evening. On 25/09/2005, the police located Kaminis
missing car from the Pune-Nashik Highway. After a thorough search the police forensic team
recovered hair like fibers stuck to the carpet in the boot of the car. These fibers were sent for the
examination to the laboratory.
Investigation led to the office of the deceased, secretary Priya wa questioned on 05/10/2005. She
told Kamini once told her that if in a case she does not return to her home for a long period of
time and no contact could be established, in that case take the keys of her office, open it and hand
over its contents to her parents. Then led to her parents who reveals the same to be a list of
important documents such as will, bank deposit receipts etc. one of such was the document of her
financial transactions with other people. On the basis of the documents police established Neha
as the only person to have a strong motive to eliminate Kamini. On 08/10/2005, when police
reached Nehas residence, to take her into the custody, the flat was locked and both Pankaj and
Neha were absconding. Police took Aloknath Kale, domestic help, into the custody and during

interrogation police found out that both the suspects had gone to Mysore on 06/10/2005. Police
made efforts but they remained unavailable.
On 09/10/2005 Aloknath Kale confessed to the police that he had helped Neha and Pankaj
strangulate Kamini on 09/09/2005 after several after of questioning. He told that while Neha
strangulated Kamini, Pankaj and he had pinned her down and they let g only once she stopped
moving. Then he and Pankaj wrap up the body in a carpet and load it into Kaminis car then they
drove towards Malshej Ghat and at a particular spot in the forest they dumped the body. Further
he told the police that he will take then to the exact spot. After this police took him to the
Magistrate who proceeded to record the statement after following the due procedure. Following
the statement on 10/10/2005, Aloknath took the police to the exact spot where the body was
dumped and forensic team dug up and retrieved the highly decomposed body of a female and the
jewellery worn by her was sent for the identification. The body was sent to the Sasoon Hospital,
Pune for a post-mortem which concluded the death was an unnatural death due to asphyxiation
caused by fracturing of the hyoid bone. The hair was taken from the decomposed body and then
sent for a DNA analysis and upon comparison with a hair taken from the Kaminis hairbrush, it
was concluded beyond reasonable doubt that the body was of the Kamini. The level of the
decomposition suggested that she had been dead for around one month.
The FIR was filed on 10/10/2005 against Neha, Pankaj and Aloknath for the murder of Kamini
Karia a then a team of police was sent to Mysore on 13/10/2005 and arrested Neha and Pankaj
and escorted the m back. Chargesheet was prepared on 04/11/2005 and was filed on 07/10/2005
and the Trial Court was conducted by the Honble Court of Pune at Pune. On the witness
testimonies and the evidences the Court acquitted Accused no. 1, 2 & 3. All the three accused
have been set free. Aggrieved by this order State has preferred an appeal before the Honble
Bombay High Court at Mumbai and the same is pending hearing.