Overview

• Additional Sessions Judge Satyanarayan Navander delivered the acquittal on July 19 and released a detailed judgment on July 24 that highlighted inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.
• The court found that constable Udesh Mohite’s testimony was contradictory and that the investigating officer did not corroborate claims made in the FIR.
• Shetty and Khankar had faced charges under IPC sections 353, 189, 504 and 506 over allegations of pushing and abusing officers at Kasturba Marg Police Station in September 2004.
• The special MP and MLA court said the absence of independent witnesses and reliable evidence entitled both defendants to the benefit of reasonable doubt.
• Gopal Shetty served as MP for Mumbai North from 2014 to 2024 and was previously an MLA, while Ganesh Khankar held a party worker role at the time of the incident.