PUNE: Around 22 years after seven persons were convicted in a murder case, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday acquitted them by quashing the judgement of Pune District Court. The quarrel over a barking dog led to the murder in 1993 in Kulegaon in Mulshi taluka. 

The deceased Beera Hiraman Kaskar was from Parner in Ahmednagar district.  The acquitted persons are Barku Chandar Jagtap and other residents of Kulegaon.
 
Kaskar and others along with their goats had come to the fields of residents from Kulegaon. On the request of land owners, goats are kept at night in such fields, so that natural manure gets to the field, and they charge for the same. According to the police, on January 4, 1993 at 7.30 pm, Barku had an argument with Kaskar’s family. Later he returned with six others and allegedly assaulted Beera with sticks. He died due to the assault. The Pune District Court convicted them in 1997. However, they appealed.  The court observed that the complainant stated that a person from the village told her names of accused persons and she consented to write down their names in the complaint.