DADAJI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In Session Trial No.52/87, original accused No. 1, who is the appellant herein - Dadaji son of Mahagu alias Mahadeo Warkhade, and original accused No.2 - Khatu son of Budha Madavi came to be tried on a charge of having caused death of Deorao son of Bhagwan Gharat by administering poison through liquor in furtherance of their common intention and thereby committed his murder. The learned Additional Session Judge, Chandrapur, by his judgment and order dated 12th July, 1990, found appellant Dadaji guilty of having committed offence under Sec. 302 of I.P.C. and convicted him of that offence and sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life, witness the co-accused Khatu son of Budha Madavi came to be acquitted. The appellant/original accused No.1 has challenged his conviction and sentence in this appeal.

(2.) In nutshell, it is the prosecution case that on the fateful day, deceased Deorao son of Bhagwan Gharat was accosted by the appellant and the co-accused at Mohurli Bus Stop where he was sitting and they took the deceased in a lane and offered him to drink liquor which was mixed with poison. This was on 26.2.1987 at about 8 p.m. and on the next day, that is on 27.2.1987, in the morning at about 6 a.m., deceased Deorao was found lying dead at the square behind the house of one Gokulwar. Police Patil of the Village Jairam Jenthe (PW4) was informed of the incident, who visited the spot, where the deceased was lying, and found that he was already dead. So he handed over the report to the father of the deceased and asked him to submit the same to Police Station Bhadravati and that is how the report Exhibit 9 came to be lodged at the Police Station. On the receipt of the report, PSI Kukade (PW20) registered the case of accidental death bearing No.6/87 and started enquiry into the matter. He went to Mohurli and prepared the inquest panchanama Exhibit 11, spot panchanama Exhibit 12 and recorded the statements of the witnesses acquainted with the incident. He also prepared sketch map of the incident where the deceased was lying and seized the soil mixed with froth and the plain soil from the spot under panchanama Exhibit 13 and sent the dead body of the deceased for post-mortem to Chandrapur. In the course of enquiry, he found that it was a case of murder and, therefore, he came to Police Station and registered offence under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 34 of I.P.C. on 1.3.1987 against the accused persons. He arrested the accused persons. He arrested the accused persons on 1.3.1987. In the course of investigation,m it was revealed that the accused had procured the poison from one Ramdas Meshram (PW11). At the instance of the appellant/accused No. 1, the police was also able to discover one small bottle, which came to be seized under Panchanama Exhibit 43, from the house of accused No.1. He also seized a glass and an empty liquor bottle from one Kusum Dupare, which, according to the prosecution, were used for administering poison to the deceased. The articles seized in the investigation were forwarded to the Chemical Analyser for analysis. After the investigation was concluded, the charge-sheet against the accused came to be filed and the case was put on trial for the charge of having committed murder of Deorao.

(3.) The prosecution examined Parvatabai (PW1), the mother of the deceased, Janardhan (PW6), his brother, and Anadrao (PW17), who actually saw deceased Deorao bring taken by the accused persons from the Bus Stand.