Thanks to the inordinate delay between his assault on his alleged victim and the victim’s death, a rickshaw driver from Charkop walked free recently. The Sessions Court in Dindoshi, in a judgment delivered on May 5 ordered the acquittal of murder accused Dhirajkumar Tiwari (27), who had assaulted tempo driver Sushilkumar Mishra in 2008.

Five days after his assault, Mishra had been released from hospital. But two months later, he passed away. Mishra and Tiwari had been involved in a scuffle on October 19, 2008 in Borivli, in course of which Mishra allegedly assaulted Tiwari with a trowel, knocking him into a drain. Locals rushed him to Bhagwati hospital, and after being treated there for less than a week, he was discharged. Mishra’s injuries, however, continued to trouble him, and on November 3, 2008 he returned to hospital.