AHMAD ALIAS AHMAD CHAKRI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal concerns a very gruesome incident of murder that took place at about 8-40 p. m, on 16-9-1990 in front of National Electronic Shop situated at Station Road, which is, in fact, referred to as Nasjid Galli, at Andheri West, Bombay. One Yusuf Siddiq, who is alleged to have been conducting Matka business, was assaulted with deadly weapons by a group of four persons. Two of them were armed with swords and the other two with guptis. The post-mortem notes alone indicate that the assault was so savage that the deceased Yusuf Siddiq was virtually hacked to pieces, he having sustained as many as 29 injuries. The area is a very crowded one as the record indicates in so far as it is not only the proximity of the railway station but the number of shops in the area that account for a large number of persons passing by and visiting that place. It appears that the matka business in question was being carried out in a small structure situated within the railway compound, which is in the immediate proximity and there is some suggestion to the effect that this business was originally being run by Accused No. 1 and that it had changed hands and the deceased Yusuf Siddiq had taken over the same. It, however, appears that having regard to the nature of that trade, that even after handing over the main business to the deceased Yusuf Siddiq, Accused No. 1 is alleged to have been continuing with the same along with his associates, possibly as a rival, in the immediate proximity. As a result of this, it is contended by the prosecution that some bitter hostility had developed and there is a suggestion that not only the Accused but the deceased Yusuf Siddiq belonged to a class of persons who are all on the wrong side of the law and were also given to involvements in incidents of violence. It is in this background that the incident is question took place.

(2.) SIDDIQ Abdul Kadar Bagwan (PW 3), who is a Police Constable, claims that he was present in the area when the incident took place and that he, along with two other Police Constables, tried to nab the assailants, but that the four persons ran away. One of them is supposed to have dropped a gupti so close to Bagwan that the weapon, in fact, injured his toe. After the Accused made for their escape, Bagwan and one of the other Police Constables took the injured Yusuf Siddiq in a rickshaw to the hospital, but he was declared dead on admission. Bagwan thereafter went to the Police Station and lodged his First Information Report, in which he has given the name of one of the assailants as Ahmad Chakri and three others. He stated that the Accused is a known mawali and, furthermore, that there were three other assailants. According to him, on seeing Bagwan and the other Police Constables approaching, Accused No. 1 Ahmad Chakri recognised the Police and shouted out "police, Police", whereupon the assailants stopped their assault on Yusuf Siddiq and ran away from that place. The Police commenced investigations and arrested Accused No. 1 on 18-9-1989. Accused No. 2 was arrested a day or two thereafter and Accused No. 3 and Accused No. 4 were arrested on 21-9-1989. In the meanwhile, the Police completed the other formalities, such as the various Panchanamas, etc.

(3.) IT is alleged by the prosecution that in the course of investigation in the following few days, Accused Nos. 1, 2 and 3 made certain statements in the course of which they led the Police Party to their respective residences from where the Police recovered two swords and one gupti and blood-stained clothes. These garments, along with the weapons, were sent to the Chemical Analyser, and the investigation report indicates that there were trances of blood of group "ab" on all these clothes and on the weapons. It is relevant to mention that the blood group of the deceased Yusuf Siddiq was also found to be "ab". As far as the four Accused are concerned, it is rather a coincidence that the blood samples taken from them, on analysis, indicated that all four of them belonged to the "b" blood group. It is, therefore, quite clear that the presence of "ab" blood group on the clothes recovered at their instance and the weapons recovered at their instance would, normally, suggest that the prosecution has established that the blood of the same group to which the deceased Yusuf Siddiq belonged was traced on all these articles. No identification parade was conducted in this case. On completion of the investigations, the four Accused were placed on trial before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Greater Bombay, who accepted the prosecution evidence and convicted them for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and awarded to each of them a sentence of imprisonment for life. The present appeal is directed against this set of conviction and sentence.