Mumbai:
Five years after he was arrested for allegedly raping a woman twice his age, Abhishek Kasliwal, son of the owner of Shriram Mills, was today acquitted by the sessions court, holding that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges.
"You are acquitted," said Additional Sessions Judge S R Malpani-Pawar to 32-year-old Kasliwal, who appeared in the court in black trousers and a white shirt.
"The detailed reasons for acquittal will be known after we get a copy of the order", said Kasliwal's lawyer Shamsher Garud.
Abhishek's father, industrialist Ambuj Kasliwal, who was also present in the court, walked away with his son from the court room without talking to the media.
Abhishek, who was 26 years old then, was accused of raping a 52-year-old woman in south Mumbai's Colaba area on March 11, 2006, after offering her a lift in his car.
He was arrested the next day as the victim told police that instead of taking her to Mumbai Central, where she wanted to be dropped, he allegedly took her to the Shriram Mills premises in Worli and raped her.
Abhishek's bail plea was turned down by the lower court following which he moved the High Court which granted him liberty a month after his arrest.
The trial was delayed for some time because the victim had gone missing. However, on the strict instructions of the court, the police traced her and produced her in the court.
Kasliwal's lawyers, Srikant Shivade and Shamsher Garud, had argued that there were discrepancies in the victim's statement, and Abhishek had been framed up.
Kasliwal's lawyers pointed out that according to the victim, she had gone to the Colaba police at 8.40 pm on March 11, 2006, and filed the first FIR saying that she was raped on the intervening night of March 10 and 11.
Later the case was transferred to the Worli police station, and in another FIR, she stated that she first went to police at 6 pm on March 11.
The second FIR was missing from the record, the defence lawyers said, and argued that Abhishek was not the same person the victim was referring to.
They highlighted the victim's statement, in which she had said that one "Vicky Malhotra", whose height was 5 feet and 5 inches, had raped her. Defence lawyers argued that Abhishek's height was about six feet, so he could not be the same person.
The lawyers further argued that the victim had stated in the FIR that no condom was used, but police had produced a condom from the car, and even got the DNA test done. Also the details of the car mentioned by her did not match Kasliwal's car.