Pune, June 4 -- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Gopichand Padalkar, who had made controversial remarks about Nationalist Congress Party (SP) president Sharad Pawar during the Covid pandemic, was acquitted by a Baramati court on Tuesday. In 2020, Padalkar triggered outrage by comparing Pawar to the coronavirus, saying, "Sharad Pawar is like the coronavirus that has infected Maharashtra." A case was filed against him following the statement. Delivering the verdict, Joint Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Durga Pujari stated: "The accused Gopichand Kundalik Padalkar is acquitted under Section 248(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure from the charges punishable under Section 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code. The bail bond is hereby cancelled. For compliance with Section 437-A of the CrPC, the accused is directed to submit a bond of Rs.5,000 along with a surety within seven days." The court ordered the disposal of a pen drive submitted in the case, noting it holds no evidentiary value. The pen drive was submitted by one of the witnesses which had Padalkar's remarks about Pawar. The prosecution's case suffered multiple setbacks during trial. Key witness Harshad Pawar denied having provided the pen drive that allegedly contained the video of Padalkar's speech. During cross-examination, he refuted the prosecution's claim that the video file titled "Gopichand Padalkar Speech" was transferred from his phone and handed over to police. Furthermore, the prosecution failed to play the contents of the pen drive in court, leaving the nature of the evidence unverified. Another witness, Rajendra Bhise, listed as a panchnama witness, also did not support the investigating officer's version. The court noted that the testimonies of these witnesses contradicted the officer's statement, rendering the investigation unreliable. The court observed that the FIR appeared to have been registered based on a news report aired on a television channel. However, during cross-examination, the investigating officer admitted that no official request was made to the channel to obtain the footage or corroborate the report....