SHIVAJI DATTU PATIL Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant before us was put on trial alongwith two other accused on charges of murder and armed robbery as also unlawful possession of fire arms before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Malegaon District Nasik. On the night of 22-12-1990 at about 9. 00 p. m. it is alleged that the present appellant who was masked with a monkey cap, entered the residential house of P. W. 1. Hiralal Kankaria while the family was watching a T. V. programme. He is alleged to have taken out a revolver and held it at the head of the daughter Bharti and tried to snatch her gold chain while at the same time warning other persons in the room to stand with their hands up. The accused undoubtedly was armed with a revolver but considering the fact that there were 3 to 4 members in the room, they unfortunately did not heed the warning from the accused and Hiralal the brother of Rikabchand, went for the accused in order to save the girl from the clutches of the accused. It is not absolutely clear as to what happened thereafter but a scuffle did take place in the course of which Hiralal and Rikabchand caught hold of the accused and were grappling with him. In the midst of this scuffle two shots came to be fired one of which hit Rikabchand on the right side of the chest and since the weapon was a high powered revolver the bullet went right through the body. The second bullet fortunately did not hit anybody. Hiralal tried to disarm the accused hitting him on the head with a stick.

(2.) IN the meanwhile their son Ranjendra arrived at the house on a scooter and he saw one of the accomplices near the house and caught hold of him. Noticing the scuffle going on in the verandah, he handed over the person whom he had apprehended to the watchman and two other persons rushed there and caught hold of the accused who still had the fire arm in his hand, and forcefully banged his arm against the concrete pillar a couple of times until he let go of the revolver which fell to the ground. In the meanwhile Bharti had phoned P. W. 4 Tarachand Lodha and the police, Lodha arrived on the scene of offence a short while thereafter. They over-powered the accused and made him sit there but his accomplice managed to escape from the clutches of persons outside and ran away. According to Lodha the third accused who was near the gate was followed by him for some distance but he was unable to apprehend him. When the police arrived on the scene the accused who was present there was handed over to them and the fire arm was taken charge of under a panchanama. Rikabchand in the meanwhile was taken to the hospital of one Dr. Bhandari who was asked to treat him but the Doctor on examining him pronounced him to be dead. The body was thereafter moved to the Wadia Hospital and subsequently sent for post mortem. On completion of the investigation the three accused persons were put up for trial before the Sessions Court at Nasik.

(3.) THE accused denied their complicity. As far as accused No. 2 and 3 are concerned, the identification evidence was found to be extremely weak and the learned trial Judge acquitted them. As far as the accused No. 1 who is present appellant is concerned, it was his contention that he has been falsely implicated and he has examined his cousin as a defence witness who states that at the relevant time he was not even present at the scene of offence. The defence appears to be rather inconsistent however because the suggestion that is put to the witnesses and the essential defence that emerges is that the accused No. 1 appeared to have been earlier in the employment of family. There was some pending dispute with regard to certain dues which he was claiming and it is his case that he had gone there in order to recover those amounts in the course of which he was assaulted. The suggestion put to the witnesses is that the fire arm in question was in the possession of the inmates of the house and that it came to be accidently fire in the course of a scuffle and that the accused No. 1 is in no way responsible for it.