PRAFUL SURESHBHAI KOLI PATEL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AGGRIEVED by the judgment and order dated 17.02.2006 passed by the 2nd Fast Track Court, Valsad in Sessions Case No.21 of 2005, finding and sentencing the appellant, original accused, guilty for the offence punishable u/s.302 of Indian Penal Code (for short, "the IPC"), the appellant is before this Court in this appeal. By the impugned judgment and order, the appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment with fine of Rs.5,000/.

(2.) BRIEF facts leading to the case are as under; It was the case of the prosecution that the appellant, Praful Sureshbhai Koli Patel and deceased, Vikas Ishwarbhai Patel, were employed in parking plots, named, Sai Parking Plot and Shanti Parking Plot respectively. There were frequent quarrels between them regarding parking of trucks in the said parking plots, which, ultimately, led to the occurrence of the incident in question. It was alleged that the appellant assaulted the deceased with a Scissor used for cutting clothes at Vapi Udhyog Nagar, near Telephone Exchange, situated near shopping centre. The deceased died on the spot. The complaint was lodged by the appellant himself whereupon the case was investigated by Devisinh Gauravsinh Chauhan, Police Inspector, Vapi Udhyog Nagar Police Station, who discovered the weapon used in the commission of offence (being one part of a Scissors) from the appellant, visited the scene of offence and drew panchnamas with the help of panchas, followed necessary procedure for sending the dead body for postmortem, recorded statements of necessary witnesses, collected blood stains as well as control sample and dispatched it to Forensic Science Laboratory (for short, "the FSL") for necessary investigation. The appellant, original accused, was arrested and ultimately, having found the case for trial against him, submitted the report accordingly to the competent Court.

(3.) DURING the trial, the prosecution examined ten witnesses, viz. PW1 Ramchandra Jinabhai Exhibit10, PW 2 Atulbhai Nathabhai Pansuriya Exhibit12, PW3 Subhashbhai Dayalbhai Exhibit15, PW4 Maheshbhai Harishbhai Exhibit18, PW5 Dr. Rupesh Dharamsinh Gohil Exhibit19, PW6 Uttambhai Bhanabhai Exhibit22, PW7 Rameshbhai Shukkarbhai Exhibit23, PW8 Vasudev Mukund Dhudve Exhibit24, PW9 Minaben Ishwarbhai Exhibit27 and PW10 Devisinh Gauravsinh Chauhan PW 28. The prosecution cited PW6 Uttambhai Bhanabhai Exhibit22 as eyewitness and also PW4 Maheshbhai Harishbhai Exhibit18 as such, as he is said to have arrived at the scene of offence after about ten minutes of the occurrence of the incident.