WASU PILLAI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by the accused Wasu Pillai against his conviction under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and the sentence of imprisonment for life imposed upon him by the Court of Session for Greater Bombay in Case No. 50, IV Sessions 1959, on 15th September 1959. The charge against the accused was that on the night between the 14th and 15th April 1959 he committed the murder of one Krishna Pillai by intentionally causing his death and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) THE prosecution case against the accused is that, he was a boarder in Shanmukh Vilas Hotel situated in Family Building on Dr. Batliwala Road, Patel, Bombay. Is is a boarding and lodging hotel and owned by one Shankaran Nair. The accused was its boarder for the last 16 years and is the proprietor's sister's daughter's son. The deceased Krishna Pillai who hailed from the native place of Shankaran Nair was also a boarder in the same hotel. One Bhaskaran, the brother's daughter's son of the proprietor, resided with him and was being, provided with free lodging and boarding. The accused was an electrician in the Khatau Mills at Byculla, while the deceased Krishna was a weaver in the Sadhana Textile Mills at Worli. It is the prosecution case that the deceased and the accused were at one time on good terms, but latterly their relations were strained and that appears to x due to some quarrel over a room in the Government Housing Colony at Sion Koliwada, which had been allotted to the deceased Krishna from 1st February 1959. In respect of that room, bearing No. 869, which was allotted to him, the deceased had paid Rs. 141 to the Rent Collector, one Prabhakar Ghaisas. But it seems that instead of the deceased occupying the room, it was in the occupation of one Narayan Nair, a relative of the accused Wasu Pillai. It appears that the marriage of the deceased had been settled and that is why he wanted the room for his own use and he asked the accused to get the room vacated by Narayan Nair; the accused, however, first told him that the room could not be vacated and later on it is alleged that he told the deceased that it would be vacated if an amount of Rs. 155 was paid to Narayan Naur. This dispute about the room took place, it appears, a few days before the incident and, according to the prosecution, on 10th April 1959, Shankaran Nair, the proprietor of the hotel, paid Rs. 155 to one Janardhan Pillai at the instance of the deceased in the presence of the accused, for being paid to the said Narayan Nair. On 12th April, the deceased gave a party in the hotel in celebration of his forthcoming marriage, but the accused and Narayan Nair, though invited, did not choose to attend. As Shankaran found that the relations between the deceased and the accused were strained, he called the accused on 14th April for the purpose of reconciliation and the accused was fold by him that, as they all hailed from the same place, the quarrel should be settled and a hearty send off should be given to the deceased when he left for his marriage on the 17th. At this the accused got enraged and is alleged to have told Shankaran Nair that after the deceased returned from his marriage be would finish him off and thereafter finish himself off also, and further said that if he did not act accordingly he was not the son of the Vazsvelil family. Shankaran Nair was further told by the accused to mind his own business. This happened on the 14th April at about 9 a. m. and the accused left for his work in the afternoon. It is the prosecution case that as an electrician in the Khatau. Mills, the accused used to go to the Mills at 2-30 p. m. and usually return at about 12-30 after midnight. The deceased also who was working in the Sadhana Textile Mills at Worli used to go to the mills at about 6-30 a. m. and return at about 4-30 p. m. It is the prosecution case that the deceased used to sleep in the hotel on a bench, while the accused used to sleep just outside the hotel near the windows to the east. At about 3-30 a. m. in the night between the 14th and 15th April, it is the prosecution case that the accused fatally stabbed the deceased with a clasp knife while the deceased was sleeping at his usual place in the hotel. Alter stabbing the deceased, the accused rushed into a bathroom of the adjacent Subhas Boarding House and, according to the prosecution, the accused approached the bath-room through the four feet wide passage inside the building separating the two boarding houses and he was observed while he was entering that passage by Bhaskaran who, as already stated, was also a boarder in the Shanmukh Vilas Hotel and was related to the proprietor Shankaran Nair. It is further alleged that one Bengali, Amar-jyoti Bose, a boarder in the Subhas Boarding House, situated in the same building at that very time was entering the same bath-room which the accused was entering from the opposite door, but the accused pushed away Bose into the room where Bose used to sleep and bolted both the doors of the bath-room. Bose went out of his room by another door and saw that the bath-room was bolted from inside from the other side also and that is why he peeped into the bath-room through a hole in the partition between the bath-room and a water-closet and saw the accused lying with several injuries and a knife by his side. According to the prosecution, the accused literally carried out his threat by attempting to commit suicide himself. Bhaskaran, who, as already indicated, had observed the accused hastening towards the common passage and seen the deceased, in a pool of blood, immediately informed the proprietor Shankaran Nair who has his residence nearby. Shankaran Nair hastened to the hotel and the deceased was immediately removed to the K. E. M. Hospital where unfortunately he died soon after admission. Information was given to the Bhoiwada Police Station. The police, on their arrival, got the bath-room door opened with a bamboo and the accused was found lying with knife injuries on his body. The bloodstained clasp knife which was lying there was taken charge of and the accused was removed also to the K. E. M. Hospital. An operation was performed on the accused and he was discharged from the hospital on 4th May 1959. The accused had already been put under arrest in the morning of 15th April. After the preliminary inquiry by the learned Presidency Magistrate, the accused was made to stand his trial in the Court of Session for Greater Bombay.

(3.) THE defence of the accused was that the prosecution story about the alleged quarrel between him and the deceased regarding the room was untrue and he had nothing to say about it. As regards the invitation given by the deceased Krishna, when he gave a party to celebrate his forthcoming marriage, on the 12th, he stated that on that day he had gone to work and therefore did not attend the party. He denied that any threat had been given by him, as was the prosecution case on the evidence of Shankaran Nair,' in the morning of 14th April. As regaids the-actual incident, the case of the accused was one of alibi. He stated that he had gone to work as usual in the mills and thereafter had Rone to see his sister Devakiamma who was not well. From his sister's home he returned to his place of residence at abount 4a. m. and when he was enterin2 the bath-room to wash his face one Gopalan from Bhoiwada asked him for moneys saying "where is Rs. 50/-?" and Gooalan then stabbed him, He then snatched the knife from Gopalan and then went inside the bath-room and bolted the door of the bath-room from inside. According to the accused, he received several injuries and fell down and had become unconscious and he did not know what happened thereafter.