PRABHAT @ BHAI NARAYAN WAGH Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellants herein, the original accused A-1, A-3 and A-7, were charge- sheeted along with certain other accused persons for the offences punishable under Section 452, Sections 341, 302 IPC read with Section 34 IPC etc. The trial Court acquitted all the accused persons in Sessions Case No. 7 of 1989 vide its judgment dated 25.9.1989.

(2.) On appeal by the State, the High Court set aside the acquittal of the appellants of the offences under Section 452 read with Section 34 IPC and convicted and sentenced each one of them with a sentence of 1-2 years and fine with default sentence. The High Court also sentenced them for offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC to suffer imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Aggrieved by the same, appellants herein have come up with this appeal.

(3.) The prosecution version is as follows: Deceased Sanjay Gaonkar and his two friends, namely, Anil Raut - PW8 and Rajan Angane - PW15 were chit-chatting in front of Kishor Cycle Mart at Bharad Naka, Malwan. At that time, the complainant Suryakant Ramchandra Phansekar PW4, a resident of Malwan having his house in an area known as Vaiery, had gone to a saloon situated just in front of Kishor Cycle Mart, which was owned by Vijay Chavan PW3. PW4 used to go to that saloon regularly for reading newspaper. While the complainant was at that shop, at about 7.30 pm on 19.10.1987, he heard a voice of 'run run'. He came out of the shop and found that the deceased Sanjan Gaonkar was running towards the house of Shobhana Parkar, which was very near to the said saloon and the appellants 1 to 3 were chasing him with weapons like sword and gupti in their hands. Deceased Sanjay Gaonkar was about to enter the house of Shobhana Parkar when original accused no. 1 gave a blow with a weapon like Gupti on the neck of the deceased and he fell on the ground. Other two accused persons assaulted the deceased with weapons. PW4, noticing the above incident, went to Malwan police station and informed them of the incident and, on request, he gave the complaint in writing. Police rushed to the place of incident and found Sanjau Gaonkar lying in a pool of blood just inside the door of the house of Shobhana Parkar. The police, later, registered the offence at GR No. 81/87.