HANUMANTH CHAUVAN Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellants/original accused nos. 1 and 2, being aggrieved by the Judgment of the District and Sessions Judge, South Goa, Margao, dated 20th November 2002, in Sessions Case No. 1 of 2001, convicting the appellants for an offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sentencing them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life, have filed the present appeal challenging the aforesaid conviction and sentence.

(2.) THE facts, in brief, as are necessary for the decision of this appeal, are set out hereunder:-P. W. 12 P. S. I. Ganpat Onskar was attached to the Margao Police Station. On 28th May 2000, he was a day officer and at about 5. 10 p. m. he received a wireless message from the police control room informing him that one Dhananjay was lying near the house of Babu Naik and it was a case of stabbing. P. W. 12 P. S. I. Onskar alongwith constables proceeded to the scene, which was at Monte Dongor, at about 5. 20 p. m. On reaching the scene of offence, he saw a crowd of about 50 persons standing there. He noticed the body of Dhananjay Rathod. On inquiring with the crowd, the names of the appellants transpired as the perpetrators of the crime and, therefore, P. W. 12 P. S. I. Onskar proceeded in search of the appellants. He found both the appellants in the bushes at Monte Dongor itself. He brought the appellants to the Police Station and lodged his complaint at Exhibit 45. P. W. 14 P. I. Mohan Naik, who was in-charge of the Margao Town Police Station, registered the offence on the basis of the complaint, at Exhibit 45, lodged by P. W. 12 P. S. I. Onskar. He arrested the appellants and executed the arrest panchanama, at Exhibit 14 in the presence of P. W. 1 John Rego. The wearing apparel of the accused came to be attached. From the appellant no. 1 a green colour pant and a orange colour T-shirt came to be attached. The wearing apparel of appellant no. 2 consisting of a brown colour full pant and a white colour T-shirt came to be attached. The clothes of the appellant no. 1 so attached are at Exhibit 1 and the clothes of appellant no. 2 so attached are at Exhibit 2. The arrest panchanama was effected vide Exhibit 14, at 6. 10 p. m. , on 28th May 2000. The arrest panchanama, at Exhibit 14, states that the T-shirt of both the appellants were stained with blood.

(3.) APPELLANT No. 1 Hanumanth was interrogated by P. W. 14 P. I. Mohan Naik in the presence of P. W. 6 Arvind Tenkse and he is alleged to have volunteered to discover the knife, which was hidden in the bushes. Accordingly, the statement of accused no. 1 Hanumanth was recorded, at Exhibit 30 and accused no. 2 had taken the police and the panch to a hilly area and after searching in the bushes for about 20 minutes, produced a knife, which came to be attached. Some bloodstains were noticed on the blade of the knife. The said knife is at Exhibit 3. Meanwhile the scene of offence panchanama, at Exhibit 18, had been recorded in the presence of P. W. 3 Lino Lima and the inquest panchanama, at Exhibit 16, was recorded in the presence of P. W. 2 Gilson Baptista. The dead body was referred for post-mortem examination and the post-mortem was conducted by P. W. 10 Dr. Avinash Pujari and his report is at Exhibit 38. Dr. Pujari noticed the following injuries:-