India, Oct. 18 -- A Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) court has acquitted a man accused of illegally cutting a neem tree outside a Swaminarayan temple, ruling that the prosecution failed to establish his involvement in the offence.

The case remained pending for more than 11 years, from its registration in July 2015 to the judgment delivered on October 14, 2026, by NS Sayyad, Judicial Magistrate First Class, PMC Court.

The civic body had filed the case against Bharat Dhanji Thakkar under the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975, following a complaint about alleged unauthorised tree cutting on June 27, 2014.

According to the prosecution, Rajendra Popat Kalaskar, a horticulture technician with the PMC's ...