SANJAY PURAN BAGDE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On the fateful night intervening 2nd and 3/11/2015 at about 3 a.m. the deceased Vilas Babusa Gawande and his wife Sau. Anita Vilas Gawande woke up and while the wife was doing preparations for cooking, the husband went to attend to the nature's call. The wife (PW-6) heard shouts of the husband that four persons were assaulting him and when she ran to the spot she saw two of them, Manoj Puran Badge and Puran Sakharam Bagde assaulting the husband with an axe and whereas the appellants before us Sanjay Puran Bagde and Rajratna @ Nandu Bagde had caught hold of him. On her creating a noise loudly, all of them ran away. She found her husband bleeding who also told her that four of them had caught hold of him and assaulted him by means of an axe. She gave some water to the husband on his asking and then went to the house of the neighbours who carried the husband into the house and then by an auto he was carried to the hospital where he was declared to be dead.

(2.) The stated reason for the assault is alleged to be an evil eye kept on the wife of Manoj Puran Bagde by the deceased. The statement of PW-6 was recorded under Sec. 161 Cr.P.C. and subsequently under Sec. 164 Cr.P.C. We may say at the threshold itself that though the learned counsel for the appellant endeavoured to persuade us, we found no glaring inconsistency between the two statements.

(3.) The FIR No.79/2015 dtd. 3/11/2015 was registered and in pursuance to the investigation charge sheet was filed. All the four accused were charged with the offence of Sec. 302, IPC read with Sec. 34 IPC. On trial being completed, the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Akot, District Akola by a judgment dtd. 14/9/2017 convicted the first two accused while acquitting the two appellants.