NAGARAJ Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is filed by the accused under Section 439 of Cr.P.C. seeking bail in Crime No.238/2019 of Bellary Rural Police Station (S.C.No.63/2019) registered for an offence punishable under Section 302 of The Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as the ' IPC ', for brevity).

(2.) It is the case of the prosecution that, one Honnur Swami had filed complaint that he is residing with his father Kuliyappa, mother Laxmi Devi and younger brothers Ramesh and Manjunath and younger sister Anita. It is further stated that, he has married Vasanta-the daughter of his father's younger sister Laxmidevi. It is further stated that, said Vasanta, the wife of the complainant, has a brother by name Nagaraj. The marriage of Nagaraj had taken place with Usha about 3 years ago and one year ago, there was a quarrel between Nagaraj and Usha and now Usha is residing in her parents house. Nagaraj is doing Hamali work in bus stand. The said Nagaraj was insisting the deceased- Kuliyappa to settle his dispute with his wife Usha on the ground that he has arranged the said marriage. It is further stated that, the said deceased Kuliyappa went to the house of the accused/petitioner-Nagaraj. It is further alleged that, the accused Nagaraj insisted the said Kuliyappa to settle his marriage and at that time the said Kuliyappa asked him to improve himself and leave his bad habits and thereafter he will settle his dispute. It is further alleged that, on the date of incident, after dinner, the deceased and the accused Nagaraj were sleeping inside the house in a room and his parents were in another room. It is further alleged that, at about 10.00 p.m. the parents of accused Nagaraj heard the sound inside the house and at that time the accused-Nagaraj, holding chopper, went out of the house and that they went inside, they saw that Kuliyappa had sustained injuries on his neck and he had died on the spot. The said complaint came to be registered in Crime No.238/2019 for an offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC. The petitioner came to be arrested on 20.07.2019. The petitioner has filed bail application in S.C.No.63/2019 and the learned Principal District and Sessions Judge, Ballary, has rejected his bail application by order dated 04.06.2020. Therefore, the petitioner is before this court seeking bail.

(3.) Heard the arguments of learned counsel for the petitioner and learned HCGP for respondent-State.