2 Brothers Were Jailed Over 2009 Murder. Court Spots Lapses 17 Years Later

Tulsiram and Harprasad Rajpal had landed in jail over a 2009 high-profile murder case in Madhya Pradesh. After 17 years, several flaws have emerged in their prosecution and earned them the benefit of doubt. The Madhya Pradesh High Court has acquitted the two brothers and ordered their immediate release.A division bench comprising Justices Vivek Agarwal and Avnindra Kumar Singh identified serious flaws in the investigation and the evidence presented by the prosecution.Contradictions and suspicious circumstances in the probe cast doubt on the prosecution's narrative and make it inappropriate to convict the accused based on such evidence, the court observed.The case pertains to the murder of Pyarelal Gadariya in Damoh district. Gadariya was stabbed to death on August 25, 2009. The police had named Tulsiram and Harprasad as suspects in the case.In 2012, a sessions court in Damoh convicted them and sentenced them to life imprisonment.