RAM GOPAL Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant Ram Gopal is sentenced to death for the murder of one Zingrooji Sitaram by poisoning. This sentence was passed by the learned Sessions Judge Nagpur and was confirmed by the High Court of Bombay (Nagpur Bench). The appellant has come to this Court by special leave.

(2.) The deceased Zingrooji Sitaram who was about 60 years old at the time of his death was living in a house in the Telipura locality, Itwari Nagpur He had a wife named Tulsabai who bore him four children. After selling his land at Dharampuri, a place in Ramtek Tehsil, he purchased a plot near Kamal Talkies in Kadbi Bazar locality of Nagpur, for Rupees 6,750/- about 9 years before the offence. He purchased it in the name of his wife Tulsabai and after erecting a temporary shed thereon, leased it out to a tenant by name Abhiman Mahar After some time, the tenant was evicted and then the deceased installed a fodder cutting machine in that shed.

(3.) Appellant Ram Gopal deals in fodder and thus developed contacts with the deceased He was living at that time near the Panchpaoli Police Station for about a year before the offence. He became friendly with the deceased. The accused is a family man with a wife one daughter and three sons. The appellant frequently visited the house of the deceased.