JAI SINGH BANDU Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Two Mahalle brothers-Narendra and Ramesh-were done to death on the night intervening 4th and 5th September, 1978. Five persons were booked for trial for the murder which included two Rathod brothers-Jai Singh and Raj Singh. Of the three remaining accused, Devi Das was an employee of the Rathod brothers and two-Ghanshyam and Sudhakar-are said to belong to the group of Rathod brothers.

(2.) To start with, the relationship between the Mahalle brothers and Rathod brothers was quite thick. They used to take keen interest in the local panchayat politics. They, however, fell out when the election for Shegaon village took place in the month of May, 1978. Gadgenagar, in which the two deceased resided, was a part of village Shegaon. Both the groups wanted their own candidate to become Sarpanch. Bhaskar Kale was the candidate of the Rathod brothers, while Mahalle brothers desired their relative Dilip to become Sarpanch. It is Bhaskar, however, who got elected. The relationship got strained thereafter and political jealousy grew. Nothing untoward occurred till Pola of 1978; but after Pola occurred on 2-9-1978, Bhaskar was severally beaten on the afternoon of 3rd September at Amravati. He had to be hospitalized. Accused Raj Singh @ Raju suspected that Narendra had some hand in the incident. Thereafter, the present occurrence occurred past midnight of 3rd September itself, when, it is alleged, that the aforesaid five persons murdered the two Mahalle brothers. The trial saw the conviction of the five accused under section 302/149, in the alternative 302/34. The accused were also convicted under sections 147 and 148.

(3.) The five convicts preferred four different appeals. The State also appealed as the trial Court had awarded sentence of life imprisonment for the principal offence of murder. According to the State, death penalty was the proper sentence. The High Court by the impugned judgment dismissed all the five appeals.