Melbourne: A 26-year-old Indian accused of murdering a compatriot in 2009 has been acquitted by an Australian court.
A jury on Wednesday unanimously acquitted the accused Harpreet Singh in Ranjodh Singh`s murder case, according to a local newspaper `The Border Mail`.
Harpreet was accused of stabbing Ranjodh several times and setting his body alight on the side of a road near Griffith in December 2009. He stood trial in the Albury Supreme Court for the past month.
The Crown case against Harpreet was reportedly relying entirely on the evidence provided by two chief witnesses who were in a car which took Harpreet and Ranjodh to the murder scene.
Defence barrister Michael King said the two people in the car, Gurpreet Singh and his partner Harpreet Kaur Bhullar, had a big incentive to lie to deflect attention from themselves and forensic examinations failed to link Harpreet Singh to the crime.
Gurpreet Singh and Bhullar had both pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to the murder in February this year.
Ranjodh`s charred body was found by a passing motorist near regional New South Wales in 2009 at the time when series of attacks were being reported against Indian nationals straining the relations with Australia.
PTI
