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Mumbai: A sessions court has acquitted 40-year-old woman in the murder case of her mother-in-law, observing that it was a case of accidental strangulation and there was no human intervention.

Shanti Mutthuswami from Dharavi was booked for killing her mother-in-law Anthony, who had come to the city for treatment. As per prosecution, the victim lived in her native and worked at a farm to earn a living. Mutthuswami had been seeking financial aid from Anthony to pay fees for her daughters, however, the latter had said no to her.

Later, the victim fell sick and her son and the accused's husband, Murugan, brought her to Mumbai for treatment. She had to undergo an operation costing Rs3 lakh. Due to such financial issues, the woman killed Anthony in 2021, alleged the prosecution.

The accused had claimed that Anthony died after she fell in the bathroom. The police and Murugan refused to accept the theory, due to strangulation marks around her neck. Mutthuswami's lawyer Bhaskar Sarwade claimed that Anthony fell multiple times in the bathroom and choked to death after getting entangled in her petticoat drawstring which got stuck to the water tap.

The theory was also accepted by the two medical experts.“The medical evidence has made out the probability of defense of accidental strangulation,” the court said. It rejected the theory of financial issues leading to the murder.

“The argument that it must be the accused who strangulated the deceased is merely based on suspicion and doubt. It has not been substantiated by any cogent circumstantial evidence,” the court ruled.