Mumbai -A court in Mumbai has ruled that suspicion, however strong, cannot take the place of proof, as it acquitted a 25-year-old man in a 2022 murder case of a woman, whose body was found in a bag at Versova beach here.

Additional sessions judge (Dindoshi court) D G Dhoble, on Monday, acquitted Shahazeb Ansari of the charges under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In the order made available on Wednesday, the court held that the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed the murder of Sonam Shukla and also that he disposed of her body to cause the disappearance of evidence.

The prosecution’s contention was that Ansari murdered Shukla as a result of a dispute over their love affair.

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