SANDEEP GUPTA Vs. STATE OF GOA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard learned counsel for the applicant and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondents.

(2.) This is an application for bail. The offence alleged against the applicant is under Sec. 302 and 394 of the Indian Penal Code registered vide Crime No.111/2022 at the Maina Curtorim Police Station. The FIR is dtd. 17/11/2022. It is alleged that on 13/11/2022 at around 23:00hrs, the applicant assaulted the deceased with a wooden danda on his head and other parts of the body. It is alleged that he further strangulated the victim and smashed hise head with a laterite stone. It is alleged that the applicant robbed cash, mobile phone and other belongings from the possession of the deceased. There is a statement of one of the witnesses that the applicant and the deceased on 13/11/2022 at around 11:00PM proceeded towards the canal side on their respective scooters. Later on, the witness who was playing a game on his mobile realised that it was the applicant who alone came back on the scooter that belonged to the victim.

(3.) The case rests on circumstantial evidence. The material against the applicant is in the nature of last seen in the company of the victim. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor submitted that the mobile phone which belonged to the victim was sold by the deceased. The allegations are that the deceased did not directly sell the mobile but from the chain from which the mobile passed hands, reveals that it is the deceased who had handed over the mobile to one of the persons.