ISHWARDAS PUNDLIKRAO KIRKITE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant Ishwardas son of Pundlikrao Kirkite, resident of Warud, District Amravati, has challenged the order of conviction and sentence passed against him in Sessions Trial No. 242/95 by the Additional Sessions Judge, Amravati. THE appellant, who was the accused in the above-mentioned trial, was convicted of the offence under Section302, I. P. C. on the charge of having committed murder of Head Clerk Motiram Pamaji Pawar in the bank premises by shooting him with a firearm 12-Bore Rifle and was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- or in default to suffer R. I. for six months more.

(2.) THE case of the prosecution, as it is revealed from the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, is as under : (A) At the time of incident, which took place in the Warud Branch of State Bank of India, PW Omprakash Anganani, who is the complainant in this case, was working there as a Branch Manager. In all thirty-six employees were serving in the said Branch. THEre were five guards and the weapons were supplied by the Bank to those who were possessing the arms licence. Whenever the guard was not on duty, the weapon used to be kept in the safe custody in the Bank. Deceased Motiram Pawar was serving as a Head Clerk and the appellant was serving as a guard in that Bank (Warud Branch ). (B) On 26-8-1995, the working of the Bank was for half day. Around 1 O'clock, the main gate of the Bank was closed. At about2 p. m. , the appellant came to attend the duty and took a gun in his custody in presence of PW Omprakash Anganani, as it was kept in the safe custody in the cabin of Branch Manager. (C) Around 2. 45 p. m. when PW Avdhoot Nagle, who was serving as a Peon in the said Bank, was proceeding towards the toilet in the bank premises, he heard the explosive sound of gun. So, he came out by the back side entrance and noticed that Motiram Pawar had sustained the bleeding injuries. He also noticed the appellant on the spot armed with a gun. PW Avdhoot Nagle rushed inside the Bank out of fear and shouted that Pawar was shot. He was accompanied by one Bais. PW Avdhoot Nagle, Bais and other employees, who followed them, entered the cabin of PW Omprakash Anganani and all of them confined themselves in the cabin. PW Omprakash Anganani contacted Warud Police on phone and informed them that the appellant was armed with a gun. He also contacted SDPO, Morshi on phone. THE appellant was abusing from the outside of cabin and was challenging PW Omprakash to come out saying that he would kill him. (D) On the above said date, at the time of incident, Police Inspector Susadkar, who was attached as Circle Police Inspector to Morshi Circle, was present at Police Station Benoda. He received a wireless massage that something had happened in the State Bank, Warud, and, therefore, he should immediately proceed to the Bank. So, he arrived at the Bank at Warud. He noticed a crowd of about2,000 to 3,000 people outside the gate of the Bank and the main gate of the Bank was closed and the appellant was standing inside armed with a 12-Bore Rifle. With the aid of police staff, PI Susadkar caught hold of the rifle with the appellant by putting hand through the channel gate and also took out the key from his pocket to open the channel gate. PI Susadkar arrested the accused. THE employees of the Bank including Branch Manager PW Omprakash, who were inside the cabin, were taken out of the Bank. THE arrest panchanama of the appellant was drawn. THE rifle and eight live cartridges along with waist belt and khaki cap were attached from him and the separate seizure memo was prepared in that respect. PW Omprakash Anganani wrote a report on his letterhead, which was forwarded to Warud Police. THE crime was registered at Serial No. 423/95 at Police Station Warud. PI Susadkar also visited the spot where the dead body was lying and drew the inquest panchanama. He also drew the spot panchanama. At the time of preparation of the above panchanamas, two empty cartridges were found on the spot where the dead body was lying. So also, a packet containing Rs. 35,000/ was found near the dead body. PI Susadkar recorded the statements of witnesses including Omprakash Anganani and Avdhoot Nagle. THE dead body was sent for post mortem examination. (E) As per the prosecution, the appellant had applied for consumer loan. He had sought the loan of Rs. 17,100/ -. However, considering his eligibility, the loan of Rs. 8,000/- was sanctioned. THE Branch Manager PW Omprakash Anganani was the Sanctioning Authority and deceased Motiram Pawar was the Head Clerk, who used to scrutinize the loan applications before the loan was sanctioned. On 28-8-1995, the loan papers were produced by PW Omprakash Anganani before PI Susadkar, who seized the same by drawing a seizure memo. THE investigation was then handed over to API Kale. API Kale filed the chargesheet.

(3.) ON the case being committed to the Court of Session, the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Amravati, framed the charge of the offences under Section302 of I. P. C. and under Section4 read with Section25 of the Arms Act. The accused-appellant pleaded not guilty.