BASAWRAJ TUKARAM ISRAN Vs. STATE OF GOA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) UNDER challenge in this Appeal, is the Judgment and Order dated 30th August. 2000 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge. Panaji convicting the accused! appellant herein for an offence. punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code sentencing him to undergo Imprisonment for life. The learned Additional Sessions Judge has based his order of conviction purely on circumstantial evidence holding that the death in this case was homicidal and caused by the accused/appellant herein.

(2.) BRIEFLY, the case of the prosecution is that on 13th February, 1999 the accused and his friend the deceased Jagdish Jagga Erappa came together from Bangalore to Goa and stayed at Hotel Bareton Panaji. From there they went sightseeing together At Calangute beach they met one Naguesh Sanjeevaiah and Senthil Kumar Suttuswamy and they all returned to the Hotel at about 6. 15 p. m. Thereafter all four went on a nocturnal sightseeing trip and returned to Hotel Deluxe where Naguesh and Senthil were staying. At the Hotel they had alcoholic drinks. However since the deceased Jagdish and the accused being inebriated started making a nuisance of themselves and started quarrelling with each other and also abusing each other in a loud tone the Manager of Deluxe Hotel asked them to leave the Hotel. After they left the Hotel and while proceeding on the 31st January Road the accused threw a solidified cement stone on Jagdish resulting in his death. Charges were framed against the accused for intentionally causing the death of Jagdish with the said solidified cement stone under Section 302 I. P. C.

(3.) THE accused however pleaded not guilty. The prosecution to prove its case which it must be again stated was based purely on circumstantial evidence has examined in all 24 witnesses. The material witnesses are P. W. 7. Amesh Pagi a receptionist at Hotel Bareton where the deceased and the accused were staying. P. W. 8. macic Tomas Menezes bellboy of the Hotel Bareton who took the accused and the deceased to room No. 104. P. W. 10. Agostinho Oliveira who took the accused and the deceased to Hotel Bareton. P. W. 11. Bharat Bagwant Naik Manager of Hotel Deluxe wherein Naguesh and Senthil were staying and were having drinks in room No. 7. alongwith accused and deceased. P. W. 17, Carlos Evaristo Fernandes, a tourist guide, who took the accused and the deceased Jagdish alongwith Naguesh and Senthil on the nocturnal tour and P. W. 23 Naguesh Sanjeev Bahiya, who was staying in Room No. 7 in Hotel Deluxe and who had accompanied the deceased and the accused on the night tour and in whose hotel room all the four persons i. e. deceased accused, Naguesh and Senthil had drinks. It must be here noted that Senthil has not been examined. The evidence of the aforesaid witnesses is material for the purpose of proving the circumstance of the accused being last seen together with the deceased.