Alcohol bottles and refrigerators worth around Rs 5 lakh were gutted in the fire on January 16, 2016
Photo for representational purpose
A 30-year-old yoga teacher was recently convicted and sentenced to eight years rigorous imprisonment for abetment in a case of two boys setting a liquor store ablaze in Kandivli in 2016, hours after he had a fight with store employees for delayed delivery due to crowding.
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Alcohol bottles and refrigerators worth around Rs 5 lakh were gutted in the fire on January 16, 2016, stated a report in The Times of India.
The yoga teacher was identified as Abhinav Singh.
Finding Singh guilty, a sessions court said, “A wine shop was set on fire with premeditation. The offence is serious as the gravity of the crime and loss caused can be imagined by any prudent person, particularly on the basis of duration of fire, as evident from CCTV footage, and loss of alcohol and refrigerators in the shop.”
The court stated that the prosecution “conducted the trial halfheartedly and in a casual manner”.
The court, however, did not award maximum sentence of life imprisonment. “Considering the age of the accused and his family background, we are not inclined to take a very serious view, to grant maximum punishment. A chance of reformation can be granted to the accused. But he deserves to be adequately punished for abetment of the serious crime,” it said.
The court relied on statements of the store employees who deposed about the fight and threats by the accused. The conviction, based on circumstantial evidence, considered CCTV footage from nearby shops, which showed a man, matching the description of the accused, and in a vehicle similar to one he owned, near the spot close to the time of fire.
The two boys were also found near the shop around that time, and they could be seen running when the fire started. They were also seen communicating with someone over the phone. Refuting the defence that the fire could be accidental, the court said the extremely bright flares suggested burning of highly inflammable liquid, like petrol or alcohol. The court fined the accused Rs 50,000, to be paid to the store owner as compensation at the end of the appeal period.
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