ANAND Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This successive bail petition is filed by accused No.2 under Sec. 439 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the ' Cr.P.C .', for brevity) seeking bail in Crime No.12/2020 of Doddawad Police Station, registered for the offences punishable under Ss. 341 , 323 , 324 , 302 , 504 , 506 read with Sec. 34 of The Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as the ' IPC ', for brevity).

(2.) It is the case of the prosecution that one Mahesh Shigihalli has filed complaint dated 03. 03.2020, stating that the deceased Manjunath is his elder brother and he was doing Masonry work for his livelihood and the accused Nos.1 to 4 are residing near their house and are relatives. It is further stated that, about 24 years prior to the incident i.e. on 17/7/1996, the father of this petitioner and accused Nos.1 and 3 i.e. one Shivappa Kalasannavar and Veerabhadrappa Kalasannavar have murdered Gangappa Shigihalli who was the elder brother of complainant's father and in that regard the father of the complainant had registered a case in Dodwad police station in Crime No.56/1996 against Shivappa Kalasannavar and Veerabhadrappa Kalasannvar and they were in judicial custody for many days. It is further stated that, the petitioner/accused No.2 and accused Nos.1, 3 & 4 were nurturing ill-will against the deceased Manjunath, stating that since case is filed by the father of the deceased, their entire family is ruined and even he deprived them of their livelihood by taking up masonry work which they were carrying out. They used to threaten the deceased that he will meet the same fate as that of his uncle. It is further stated that on 2/3/2020, at about 9.00 a.m, the petitioner/accused No.2 and accused Nos.1, 3 and 4. were standing near entrance of Dodwad village on their motorcycle and at that time, the deceased Manjunath came from Pyati-oni side and thereafter, the accused persons wrongfully restrained the deceased by manhandling them and started abusing in filthy language. It is further stated that, the accused No.1 held the deceased tightly and the petitioner/accused No.2 and accused Nos.1, 3 and 4 started assaulting him with fist on his face and stomach and thereafter, the petitioner/accused No.2 assaulted the deceased with sharp stone on his head, neck and caused grievous injuries and thereafter, they went away from the spot by giving life threat to the deceased. The deceased Manjunath was immediately shifted to the Government Hospital at Belagavi for treatment and thereafter, he was admitted to Lakeview Hospital at Belagavi for further treatment and he succumbed to the injuries on 14/4/2020. The petitioner/accused No.2 was arrested on 9/3/2020. This petitioner/accused No.2 along with accused No.1 earlier had filed Criminal Petition No.101224/2021 seeking bail and the same came to be rejected by this Court so far as this petitioner/accused No.2 is concerned by order dtd. 15/7/2021. Thereafter, the petitioner filed Criminal Miscellaneous No.629/2022 seeking bail and the same came to be rejected by the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Belagavi by order dtd. 3/6/2022. Therefore, the petitioner/accused No.2 is before this Court seeking bail.

(3.) Heard the arguments of learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and learned High Court Government Pleader for the respondent-State.