JAFAR @ CHIKNA JAFAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both these Appeals are decided by this common Judgment because they arise out of the same impugned Judgment and order. For the sake of convenience, the Appellant Jafar@ Chikna Jafar Mohammad Khan Deshmukh in Criminal Appeal No.387 of 2022 is referred to as the Accused No.1 as his original status before the Trial Court and the Appellant Vijay Krishna Kale in Criminal Appeal No. 437 of 2022 is referred to as the Accused No.3 as per his original status before the Trial Court. He is named as Vijay Krishna Kale @ Saddam in the trial court proceedings. There was one more accused i.e. the Accused No.2 Dhiraj Kanojia. He has not preferred any Appeal challenging the said impugned Judgment and order. Therefore, the following discussion is restricted to the case of the original Accused Nos.1 and 3.

(2.) The Appellants have challenged the Judgment and order dtd. 17/9/2021 passed by the Special Judge under MCOCA, Greater Mumbai, passed in Special Case No.11 of 2017. All the accused including the present Appellants were convicted for commission of the offences punishable under Sec. 392 r/w. 34 of the I.P.C. and under Sec. 3(1)(ii), 3(2) and 3(4) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (hereinafter referred to as 'MCOCA'). In addition, the Accused Nos.2 and 3 were convicted for the offences punishable under Sec. 504 and 506 r/w. 34 of the I.P.C.

(3.) The prosecution case is that the Accused No.1 was the gang leader. The other two accused were the members of the gang. They were indulging in the offences of chain snatching, for which, more than two charge-sheets were filed against them; of which, cognizance was taken by the competent Courts. The incident in question took place on 5/6/2017 at around 6:30p.m. It is the prosecution case that, around that time, the accused No.1 kept watch on the woman walking on the road. He was riding a Yamaha motorcycle. The other two accused were riding a Pulsar motorcycle. He gave signal to the other two accused. The accused No.3 was riding the other motorcycle and the accused No.2 was a pillion rider. The accused No.3 took the motorcycle near the victim PW-1. The accused No.2 snatched her mangalsutra and they went away. PW-1 raised shouts. One of the persons gathered there, who is examined as PW-10, chased the accused Nos.2 and 3. It is the prosecution case that, they threatened him and then went away. The accused broke the chain into three pieces and shared one piece each. The accused No.3 was apprehended in connection with some other offence. The custody of the accused No.3 was given to the investigating agency in the present case. All the accused were arrested. Two motorcycles involved in the offence were recovered. The accused Nos.1 and 2 independently led panchas and the police to different places from where the two pieces of mangalsutra were recovered. A knife was recovered at the instance of the accused No.2. They were subjected to Test Identification Parade (hereinafter referred to as 'T.I.P.'). It is the prosecution case that, PW-1 and PW-10 identified the accused No.3 at Arthur Road Central Prison and on the same day they identified the Accused Nos.1 and 2 at Taloja Central Prison. The investigation was carried out. During the investigation, the provisions of the MCOCA were invoked by obtaining the approval U/s.23(1) of the MCOCA. After completion of the investigation, sanction U/s.23(2) of the MCOCA was granted by the competent authority. Thereafter, the Trial was conducted before the Special Judge under MCOCA.