DEVIDAS MANIK MAHAJAN Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant/original accused No. 1 is charged under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code for having committed the murder of one Dhanraj Shrawan Ulmale on 5th March 1996 between 4:00 p. m. and 7:00 p. m. . Along with original accused No. 1, original accused Nos. 2 to 5 had also been charged with the same offence. THE Additional Sessions Judge, Nagpur convicted the accused No. 1/appellant under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for having committed the said offence and he was sentenced to suffer R. I. for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/- and in default to undergo further R. I. for six months. THE other accused i. e. accused Nos. 2 to 5 were acquitted for the said offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. THE appellant herein/original accused No. 1 has filed this appeal and is challenging the said judgment and order passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Nagpur in Sessions Case No. 213 of 1996 dated 30th June 1997.

(2.) THE prosecution case, in brief, is that the deceased Dhanraj Ulmale was the Sarpanch of Village Umri from 1962 to 1984 and he belonged to Congress Party. It is the case of the prosecution that on 05. 03. 1996 when the deceased was sitting in the door of his house along with his wife and son, the original accused No. 1 Devidas entered his compound at about 2:30 p. m. to 3:00 p. m. and when he was questioned by the deceased as to why he had entered the compound, original accused No. 1 requested the deceased to give him employment. However, deceased Dhanraj Ulmale told the original accused No. 1 that it was not in his hand to give him any kind of service and as a result of the said reply given by the deceased, there was a hot verbal exchange between the original accused No. 1 and deceased Dhanraj Ulmale. It is the case of the prosecution that original accused No. 1 Devidas rushed towards the deceased to assault him. However, the deceased slapped accused No. 1 Devidas. It is the case of the prosecution that the brother of Devidas, Vijay, accused No. 2 came there to rescue Devidas. At that time, the accused No. 1 told him to bring a sword or a knife as he wanted to commit the murder of Dhanraj Ulmale. Thereafter Vijay took Devidas to his house. It is the case of the prosecution that thereafter accused No. 1/appellant herein was seen by number of witnesses and they also heard him saying that he wanted to commit the murder of Dhanraj in the evening. In the evening, at about 7:00 p. m. , when the younger son of deceased and others had gone to the field to search, they saw that Dhanraj was lying dead in the pool of blood and thereafter they returned to the village. It is further the case of the prosecution that Babarao, son of the deceased, went to the police station on the same day and lodged the report of the incident and gave the names of suspected accused Devidas and Indrasen, sons of one Manik Mahajan. The offence was registered being Crime No. 28/1996 under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code on 05. 03. 1996 at 9:15 p. m. The police visited the spot, panchnama was prepared and the clothes of the deceased were seized. Doctor performed postmortem on the dead body of the deceased on 06. 03. 1996 and gave his opinion that the cause of death is cardio respiratory arrest due to head injury. The accused was arrested on 06. 03. 1996 and arrest panchnama was prepared. Blood stained clothes of the accused were seized on 10. 03. 1996 and a panchnama to that effect was prepared as Exhibit-75. The police filed charge-sheet on the basis of the statements recorded by the Investigating Officer and the charge was framed by the Sessions Court under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code against all the accused. The accused pleaded not guilty to the said charge.

(3.) WE have heard the counsel appearing on behalf of the accused and learned A. P. P. appearing on behalf of the State.