Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Jul 15: The three persons who were held guilty by the lower court and sentenced to life imprisonment for their alleged involvement with the murder of the then local taluk panchayat president M D Jabbar, have been acquitted by the state High Court.

Taluk panchayat president M D Jabbar had been murdered in front of the taluk panchayat office in the heart of the city on May 13, 2003 in broad daylight, when he was going to the mosque to offer namaaz from the taluk panchayat office. The Pandeshwar policemen had arrested five accused and filed charge sheets against them.

Through a judgment delivered in the year 2006, the local JMFC court had held Kariangala Santosh Shetty alias Bend Santu, Alwyn Pinto from Kandavar village and Karunakar Shetty from Balepuni in Bantwal taluk guilty of murdering Jabbar and sentenced them to life imprisonments.

All the three had filed appeals in the High Court, questioning the lower court verdict. The divisional bench of the High Court comprising of Justice Sridhar Rao and Justice C R Kumaraswami which heard the case said that it has come to the conclusion of exonerating the accused of murder charges, because of lack of enough evidences and witnesses.

Lawyer K M Nataraj had pleaded on behalf of the accused.