LAXMAN JARAKIHOLI Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A father and two sons currently indicted along with 27 others of having committed offences punishable under Sections 302, 307, 147, 148 and 120(a)(b) of the I.P.C. as also for being in possession of illegal fire arms etc., under a chargesheet filed by the Sankeshwar Police, in the Court of the Magistrate Hukkeri under detention presently in the Belgaum Central Prison, have made these two applications for grant of bail under Section 439 of the Cr.P.C. Although applications like the one under consideration are made day in and day out to this Court and are disposed off in a routine manner, for one reason or the other these applications are pending since January 1989 and have given the cause for some concern relating, as they do, the personal liberty of three citizens who have been lying in wait behind prison's doors where they are now held.

(2.) The facts of the case as narrated by either side bring to the fore a scenario which an ordinary movie goer these days is very familiar since it involved a cinematic declamation of a set of villains chasing another set of people dubbed as virtuous both sets fleeing or fleeing away in vehicles at one stage with the villains taking pot-shots at the virtuous lot firing a fusillade of shots from guns ranging from a sophisticated AK-47 rifle to ordinary double barrel guns, revolvers etc., a clutch often weapons allegedly recovered from the bunch of these accused, tell the story of what according to the prosecution is organised crime aimed at exterminating just one person. But unfortunately along with him two others who were buffers in between having also paid with their lives the whole picture unfolding on three different sites: first of which being the car in which the ill-fated occupants were travelling made immobile when tyres of the car were deflated by bullets belching from their guns injuring in the bargain two inmates of the car M/s. Bhimappa Pujari and Kallappa Aigali. It is said the car was chased by all the accused who were in two jeeps and that coterie included the applicants in Cr.P.No. 98/89, several others most of whom are said to be the loyal servitors of Laxman Jarakiholi applicant in Cr. P. No. 97/89. It is alleged that all these people found travelling with guns, axes and other lethal weapons, caught up with the now stagnant car that came to a halt when the tyres were deflated by gun fire at the bidding of the viz., Satish Jarkiholi and Bhimshi Jarkiholi applicants in Cr.P.No. 97/89 both youngmen hardly out of their teens pulled out Kallappa Aigali, Bhimappa Pujari and Laxman Aigali, one Prakash Mahajan. But by then Appanna Aigali who is also said to have been injured in the firing managed to escape and ran away to safety despite being given a chase by two persons from the convoy of the vehicles carrying the accused. But Prakash Mahajan who was in the ill-fated car had remained amazingly unhurt and was taken away along with the others from the Car, i.e., the two dead men i.e., Kallappa and Bhimu and the still alive Laxman Aigali in their jeeps to a further point 35 kilometers away. At the second site again at the bidding of Satish and Bhimshi the still alive Laxman Aigali was pulled out and at their command hacked to two pieces by the 20th accused - Taladappa. Later a truck belonging to the Jarkiholi family laden with sand was ordered to be brought to that spot and the three dead bodies whisked away hidden beneath the mound of sand accompanied by Bhimshi and Satish to a far off place in Vaddu near Sandoor in Bellary District where the bodies were tried to be decimated by pouring petrol and setting them ablaze by fire. In the meanwhile of the two survivors, it was Prakash Mahajan who had a ring side seat to watch the inhumane manner in which Laxman Aigali was disposed off and the body taken away to the site of cremation, was all along in the company of the accused, taken to their house where he was given a change of clothing in exchange of his blood-stained clothes and sent off for a quiet stay in a hut 35 kilometres away with a warning that if he divulged to any one what he had seen he would soon join his erstwhile friends and that threat it appears was administered by no less a person that the senior Jarkiholi applicant in Cr.P.No. 97/89. In the meanwhile Appanna who had managed to give the slip to his pursuers had hidden himself in a nearby bush not very far off from the place where the car had been successfully attacked being a place near a hamlet called Nidasasu, and after a night long vigil happened to see another gentleman moving about in the nearby haunts and after hailing him narrated to him his own plight and asked for help. This gentleman Shankar Badager went into the village to bring Shankar Doddamani said to be a relation of Appanna Ramu Aigali (Complainant) and after the latter came to the place where Appanna Aigali was in hiding, that led to Appanna being shifted from there to nearby town of Sankeshwar for treatment of his injuries with a private doctor Mohan Sirge who after hearing the blood curdling tale narrated by Appanna, it appears told him all this being a medico legal case he had therefore to file a complaint to the Police. But Appanna not being in a position to write out a complaint requested the Doctor to write it for him and it was the doctor who wrote the complaint setting out therein some details of the incident as narrated to him. The complaint clearly mentioned that the attack was planned by Laxman Jarakiholi and his family. There upon investigation began and the police it is said got a brake only on the 9th of November 1989, the investigation was able to get a better picture of what had transpired after recording the statement of the Prakash Mahajan and later on the same evening one Pandu who is stated to have driven sand laden lorry in which the three dead bodies had been transported was apprehended while moving about in the nearby forest and thus they had information regards the disposal of the dead bodies at far off Sandur in Bellary District. The police rushed to that place, found according to information three half burnt dead bodies one of which had only a trunk and a decapitated torso both recognised by the wife, mother-in-law and the other next kin of the deceased Laxman Aigali and by the relations of Bheemu Poojary after whose arrival the inquest on the dead bodies took place and all of them were identified by the next of kin mostly by the apparels still sticking to dead bodies. Then the police launched a massive man hunt for the accused nearly for 10 or 11 days and after they were rounded up, on information given by them were able to secure ten weapons, amongst them a A. K. 47 rifle, stengun and other weapons said to have been deployed in the killing of these persons. Finally on the conclusion of investigation they placed a chargesheet in the Court of the Magistrate at Hukkcri on the 7th February 1989 along with a morass of material gathered during investigation. In the meanwhile applications for bail having been made on behalf of these applicants in the Court of the Magistrate, the same came to be rejected and subsequently the Sessions Judge having been approached the learned Judge also rejected the same holding it to be inexpedient to enlarge them on bail, followed by the applications made to this Court now under consideration for grant of bail.

(3.) I have heard very longish but informative argument by both sides in support of and against these applications. Every attempt has been made by Sri. N.Y. Hanumanthappa, learned Counsel appearing in support of these applications to classify the material produced by investigation as trumped up, false and mala fide whereas the same material has been commended with great emphasis for my acceptance by the learned Government Pleader who amongst other things pointed out that every aspect of the prosecution's case coming out of the mouth of the two witnesses Appanna Aigali and Prakash Mahajan was borne-out by circumstantial material gathered during the course of investigation particularly with the Post Mortem report showing injuries sustained by the deceased regarding two of whom the post mortem had given a clear verdict of injuries by gun shot. Reference is made to the condition of the car in which the deceased were travelling. The blood bath smearing the car, the punched bullet holes all over the car clearly showing that it could not have occured but by the (sic) of bullets as also the circumstance of the great ill-will and grudge between the senior Jarkiholi and Laxman Aigali an aspect which probably even the defence does not dispute, crystalized as it was by the series of Sessions Cases in between them one of which was said to be still pending on the file of the Court of the Sessions Judge at Belgaum. In the course of his argument, the learned Government Pleader gave me a fairly clear picture of what that Laxman Aigali whom the accused were said to be hunting on that day was. It appears being only an Excise Inspector he was known to possess means beyond his legitimate earnings. The learned Government Pleader says that he had a house and lands in Gokak and in far-off Athni which was the place where he was working at the time of the incident he had also amassed property all being objects of illegitimate acquisition. Government Pleader says that Laxman Aigali was certainly not a paragon of virtue but that he did not certainly deserve to be snuffed out in the manner as it was done. It would appear while being an excise inspector he was carrying on liquor vending in the name of Laxman Jarkiholi and had carried on the activity for nearly a decade during the course of which he had amassed lot of money but both of them had fallen out probably in the sharing of the spoils ultimately resulting in an attempt made on the life of Jarkiholi by Laxman Aigali and as a counter blast an attempt made on Aigali by Jarkiholi and his cohorts. It is said to escape the wrath of Jarkiholi and the surround that awaited him, Aigali took a transfer to far off Athni which was the last post in the District of Belgaum where he was again carrying trading in liquor while still being an official in the excise department. This time it is said having acquired a false front through the ages of one Kage & Co., he was carrying on the liquor business covertly. It is said that he always feared retribution by Jarkiholi and therefore took the precaution of always having with him sufficient number of people who were armed and was also known to carry with him a revolver. On that fateful day he was getting back from Belgaum to Athni after attending to some business in the excise office at Belgaum after having camped over night at the local Milan Hotel along with others viz., deceased Bheemu, Kallappa Aigali as also Appanna the complainant and the witnesses Prakash Mahajan. That evening all of them left Belgaum and after they had travelled a distance of 30 miles Aigali noticed two jeeps following him and therefore accelerated speed with a view to over take a truck in front but another jeep having come from the opposite direction, he had to slow down and to fall back behind the truck, which change it is said gave the accused the opportunity to get close to his car and on coming near they started firing at the car from close range ultimately resulting in blowing up the tyres of the car so that the car could not move on resulting in the car forcibly coming to a halt and further resulting in fatal injuries being sustained by Kallappa and Bheemu at which stage Aigali having also sustained an injury an aspect which is not very clear from the submissions made on either side. Be that as it may, while Appanna Aigali who was in the car managed to give the slip Prakash Mahajan who had stayed on and was taken away, in the jeep along with Laxman, Kallappa and Bheemu Poojari and after travelling 35 kilometres to a place called Kumathgol cross jeep stopped there and whereas Bheemu who was attacked by A-19 with an axe fatally, injuries with the worst awaited Basappa Laxman Aigali who it appears was pushed to the ground and hacked to two pieces by A-15. Whereas this blood curdling episode of the brutal killing of Aigali finds adumbration in the statement of Prakash Mahajan, but the events till then are unfolded in the complaint of Appanna to which I have already alluded to. No doubt all this transpired and went into the record at 9.30 A.M. on the next day when the police received the complaint of Appanna by which time the first-incident was nearly 13 or 14 hours old. According to Mr. Hanumanthappa, learned Counsel appearing for the applicants thereby hangs a tale. The applications for bail hence are grounded principally on the assertion that on the material produced by the investigation no prima facie case had been made out against any of these applicants so as to deem their involvement in this extremely bizarre crime and it is also said that there was no reasonable ground to suspect their involvement and that from the beginning to end case of the prosecution is a tissue lies resting on trumped up and false accusations. In other words, the entire investigation is censured and castigated as malefic, fraudulent and false, wholly aimed at sinking Jarkiholi, the members of his family and his cohorts.