India, May 4 -- A sessions court in Shirur has acquitted a 40-year-old man accused of murdering a woman in 2020, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The judgment was delivered on April 30, 2026 by additional sessions judge S P Pol.

The accused, identified as Dattatray Genba Gaikwad, was facing trial under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly killing Sarika Sudam Giramkar by slitting her throat inside a rented room at Wada Colony in Shirur on July 27, 2020.

According to the prosecution, the accused and the deceased were living together as a couple in a rented accommodation owned by complainant, Baban Shete. The case was in...