VELJI @ VELO BHIKHABHAI AHIR Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these three Criminal Appeals are preferred against judgment and order dated 22.10.2008 passed by learned Additional City Sessions Judge, Court No.20, Ahmedabad, in Sessions Case No.157 of 2007. By the said judgment, accused nos.1, 2 and 9 were convicted for offences punishable under Section 302 read with Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (for short, "IPC") and ordered to undergo life imprisonment and fine of Rs.2,000/- was also imposed upon each accused and in default, they were ordered to undergo further simple imprisonment for three months. Accused no.3 was convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 of IPC and ordered to undergo life imprisonment and fine of Rs.2,000/- was also imposed and in default, he was ordered to undergo further simple imprisonment for three months; for offence punishable under Section 452 of IPC, accused no.3 was convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and fine of Rs.2,000/- was imposed and in default, he was ordered to undergo further simple imprisonment for three months; for offence punishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act also accused no.3 was convicted and ordered to undergo imprisonment for three years and fine of Rs.1,000/- was imposed and in default, he was ordered to undergo simple imprisonment for one month. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently. Accused nos.4 to 8 were acquitted of all the charges levelled against them. Being aggrieved by the impugned judgment, the accused persons have preferred Criminal Appeal Nos.2818, 2895 and 2895 of 2008, while Criminal Appeal No.498 of 2009 is preferred by the State against acquittal of the accused nos.4 to 8 from the charges levelled against them.

(2.) As these appeals are arising out of the same judgment rendered in connection with the same incident and the evidence is also common in all these appeals, the same are taken up for hearing together.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is that wife of the complainant Maheshbhai Bhikhabhai Patel, viz. Padmaben @ Ami @ Amita was having love affair with accused no.2, however, she was demanding Rs.20,000/- to Rs.25,000/- monthly from him. It is also alleged that since she was having illicit relationship with another person, accused no.2 got upset and decided to kill her. Accused no.2, therefore, with the help of accused nos.1 and 3 to 9 made a conspiracy to kill her and for that he had given Rs.7.5 Lacs to accused no.9 as contract money (sopari). With a view to hatch the conspiracy, accused no.1 and 3 to 9 on 20.2.2006 at about 10.45 hours in the morning opened fire on complainant and his wife and caused injury to the complainant. Thereafter, on 3.7.2006 at about 11.45 hours in the night, while the complainant was going on his motorcycle in the Narol area, at that time, accused tried to dash Indica Car with the complainant and thereby tried to kill him. Thereafter, on 2-3.8.2006 in the morning at about 8.45 a.m. near Hatkeshwar Circle, while deceased was going on his Activa Scooter at that time accused who were in four wheel vehicle dashed their vehicle from behind and tried to kill the wife of the complainant. Thereafter, on 26.9.2006, accused nos.3, 5 and 6 illegally entered into the house of the complainant, accused no.6 caught hold of neck of the deceased, accused no.3 fired shot from pistol below the right ear and thereby caused serious injuries to the deceased and in furtherance of their common intention, accused no.5, who was armed with knife, caused injuries on her left hand in the middle of elbow, on the stomach, knee of right hand and thereby committed her murder. It is further the case of the prosecution that after committing offence while accused no.3 was escaping he dashed with one scooter and tried to fire a shot from his pistol and from there cartridges were found. Thus, the accused persons in connivance with each other hatched conspiracy to kill the complainant and his wife by lethal weapons. Accordingly, the complaint was lodged against the accused persons with Maninagar Police Station on 26.9.2006.