RAVIKANT PATIL Vs. DIRECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India filed by the petitioner, who has been arrested in connection with a murder of one Ganesh Kolekar, which took place in Solapur on 2nd August, 1989. The petition seeks to censure the 3rd and 4th respondents for the action which they have taken against the petitioner, described hereinafter in greater details. The 1st respondent is the Director General of Police, while the 2nd respondent is this judgment because ultimately what we are called upon to decide is whether the action of the 4th respondent in such as to merit censure and also such as to result in the payment of compensation to the petitioner. The 3rd respondent is the Superintendent of Police. According to the petitioner, the Acts complainted of by the petitioner against the 4th respondent were at the instance of the 3rd respondent. After going through the material on record, it has not been possible for us to accept the case of the petitioner that it was at the instance and the behest of the 3rd respondent that the 4th respondent committed the Acts of which complaint has been made in this petition. Hence, we will also not be referring to the 3rd respondent in this judgment. The 4th respondent is the Inspector of Police, who was a the relevant time in charge of Faujdar Chavadi Police Station, Solapur.

(2.) FACTS which have been clearly established on the basis of the material brought on record through the affidavits may be straight away stated. We have already mentioned above that one Ganesh Kolekar was murdered on 2nd of August, 1980. First Information Report in connection with that murder did not include the name of the petitioner as one of the suspects. However, during the course of the investigation, the police suspected that the petitioner was a party to the said murder and naturally he was to be arrested. The petitioner was in fact arrested later at a place called Tumkar in Karnataka State and was brought to Solapur in the early hours of 17th August, 1989. The police allege that the murder of Ganesh Kolekar was a culmination of a warfare between two gangs in Solapur. One Prakash Narote had already been arrested in connection with the said murder of Ganesh Kolekar.

(3.) A paper called Tarun Bharat, published from Solapur, carried in its issue of 17th of August, 1989 a news item submitted by its correspondent which said that the petitioner would be taken in a procession or a parade from Faujdar Chavadi Police Station through the main squares of the city for the purpose of investigation. This is some what unusual because the story is detailed 16th August, 1989; the accused was brought to Solapur, according to the affidavit of the 4th respondent, half an hour after midnight of 16th and 17th August, 1989. It may be that the correspondent of this newspaper had come to know that the petitioner had been arrested at Tumkur as mentioned above. The fact that there was a news that the petitioner would be taken out in a perade from Faujdar Chavadi Police Station through the main squares of Solapur is of some significance. There are several other facts mentioned in this copy filed by the correspondent of this paper. However, we are not taking any cognisance of the same because they are strictly of no evidentiary value as far as this petition is concerned.