MUMBAI: A special court on Saturday acquitted 8 accused including deputy CM Sunetra Pawar’s brother Padamsinh Patil in the 2006 murders of Congress leader Pavanraje Nimbalkar and his driver, Samad Kazi. Patil (86), a senior NCP functionary and former state minister, is alleged to have orchestrated the murder of Nimbalkar, his cousin, due to political and business rivalry.Special judge SR Navandar discarded the evidence of the accused turned prosecution witness Parasmal Jain. The judge called the approver a liar and someone who kept changing his stand during the trial. The fate of the approver will be decided depending on the prosecution’s decision to continue proceedings against him. The judge commenced the pronouncement of judgement by calling the incident an absolutely unfortunate one. “127 witnesses deposed after which the accused Parasmal Jain made a plea to turn approver and depose as prosecution witness. His plea was accepted and he was granted pardon. He deposed as the witness number 128.”It was noted that several witnesses and other evidence showed that political enmity had developed between the accused, Padamsinh Patil, and the victim, Pawanraje Nimbalkar, after 2002. Further, in 2003, the victim had sought police protection following an incident that occurred during a board meeting.However, regarding Jain’s deposition, the judge stated that the statement he provided while being tortured during his illegal custody in 2009 appeared to be doubtful. The judge also pointed to the properties, gold and and businesses owned by Jain and concluded that it was doubtful that he carried out the murder as he needed Rs 50,000 for his medical treatment.The judge further said that it was not established that the car used in the crime was the same one as seized. The judge also said that there was no evidence that before the murder Parasmal Jain called victim from a PCO to meet him on the pretext of a land deal.All accused, barring one, are out on bail. Patil arrived on a wheelchair while an ambulance waited outside.While the acquittal marks the legal conclusion to a nearly two-decade-old murder case, the focus now shifts toward the political future of the victim’s sonShiv Sena (UBT) MP Omprakash Rajenimbalkar. Omprakash denied on Friday that he has joined a group of rebels expected to defect to the Shiv Sena. He clarified that he was not in Delhi on Wednesday or Thursday, which is why he missed the Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentary party meeting. “I have not been to Delhi. After June 20, I will state my stand,” Rajenimbalkar had said.While 128 witnesses deposed during the trial, 29 among them were declared hostile. CBI’s special public prosecutor Ejaz Khan cited the consistency of the approver’s account, statements of several other witnesses and supporting documentary evidence to seek the accused’s conviction.Nimbalkar was shot dead in his car on Mumbai-Pune expressway on June 3, 2006. The prosecution attributed the motive to his opposition to the management of Terna Sugar Factory and him contesting against Patil in the 2004 assembly elections. It alleged that Patil engaged associates to facilitate the contract killing, specifically citing financial mismanagement and misappropriation of funds at the sugar factory as a central point of conflict.CBI took up the case on Bombay HC’s order in 2008 following a petition by Nimbalkar’s wife, Anandibai, citing a history of political rivalry and previous assaults involving her husband and Patil. HC noted that the state police’s probe was “desultory and lackadaisical”. The trial was moved on Supreme Court’s order following Anandibai’s charge that Patil was exerting undue influence over the proceedings.The approver alleged that he was recruited by two men who are standing trial—both alleged associates of Patil —to coordinate the hit. He gave details on shooters’ recruitment from UP, the purchase of a vehicle under an alias, and the tracking of Nimbalkar’s movements leading up to the murder.