RAMPRASAD Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals relate to a case of mercenary killing. Though the principal target of the killers was one Ram Kishore Somani @ Ramu they could kill only his younger brother Ashok Somani, who, perchance was with his elder brother then due to his jinxed destiny. Nevertheless they succeeded in brutally mangling the targeted person inflicting a lot of injuries on him, some of them near fatal. As he survived such injuries he appeared in the trial Court to tell the tale.

(2.) If the story is true, the intrigue was hatched, ironically, in the precincts of a Court of law and its finale was staged on a public road near the Employment Exchange Office at Amravati (Maharashtra). Ten persons in all were charge-sheeted by the police in connection with the said case, out of which one Anil Chaudhary (P.W. 2) was granted pardon as he turned an approver. Four of the remaining alone were convicted and all the rest were acquitted by the trial Court. The State appealed against the acquittal and the convicted accused appealed against their conviction and sentence. During the pendency of the appeal A-2 Ram Kishore Yadao- the kingpin - died and the appeal as against him got abated.

(3.) A Division Bench of the High Court of Bombay (Nagpur Bench) confirmed the acquittal of A-9 Rajendra and also the conviction and sentence passed on the four accused. But the High Court reversed the acquittal of A-1 Gopal Maharaj and A-4 Ramprasad Yadao and they too were convicted under section 302 I.P.C. read with sections 109 and 150 I.P.C. and also of a few other lesser offences. They were sentenced to imprisonment for life on the main offence, and to lesser terms of imprisonment for the lesser offences.