Hdfc Vp Murder Mumbai Court Rejects Juvenility Plea Of Accused After Age Test

A Mumbai sessions court has rejected the juvenility plea of the accused in the murder of HDFC Bank vice-president Siddharth Kiran Sanghvi in 2018 after an ossification test placed the former’s age between 25 and 28. It said that the school records Sarfaraz Shaheed Shaikh relied upon to claim he was a minor were not genuine.

Shaikh claimed he was born on July 20, 2001, and was 17 years, one month, and 16 days old when the offence was allegedly committed on September 5, 2018. He sought the transfer of the case to the Juvenile Justice Board under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

The plea was filed after the murder trial commenced, with the prosecution examining two witnesses. The state opposed the plea, citing the driving licence and Aadhaar, both reflecting his date of birth as January 1, 1993. It argued that the documents Shaikh produced were fabricated to delay the trial.

The court examined the principal of the school in Uttar Pradesh, which issued the certificate Shaikh relied upon, the district education officer after conflicting records surfaced. The inquiry showed that the transfer certificate forming the basis of the accused’s claimed date of birth did not correspond with the admission register of the primary school from which he purportedly transferred. The register entry referred to another student.

The court observed that the school leaving certificate, transfer certificate, admission form, and school register that Shaikh relied upon are not based on any record of the earlier school or on the one he first attended, concluding that the documents were “not genuine or believable”.

The court ordered the ossification test at Grant Government Medical College and Sir JJ Hospital after the documentary evidence was found to be unreliable. A four-member medical board cited general physical, dental, and radiological examination and said Shaikh’s age is between 25 and 28, including a margin of error.

The defence cited the Supreme Court’s decision in Ashwani Kumar Saxena versus Madhya Pradesh. Additional Sessions Judge Anil D Salunkhe rejected this, saying the protection afforded to school and birth records under the Juvenile Justice Act could not apply where those documents were themselves found to be unreliable.

The court said the accused failed to produce any record from the first school he attended or any birth certificate to substantiate his claim.

The court said there was nothing to disbelieve the ossification test report and concluded that the accused was not a juvenile or below 18 years in September 2018, paving the way for the trial to resume.

Sanghvi, 38, disappeared after leaving for work in September 2018, and his car was later found abandoned with blood stains and a knife inside. Police said that technical analysis of call records led them to Shaikh and that they recovered Sanghvi’s phone from his possession.

Investigators said the accused confessed to stabbing Sanghvi and dumping his body.