SHAFIQ ALI HAIDER Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this application filed under Sec. 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), the applicant seeks regular bail in connection with Crime Register No.414 of 2023 registered with Panvel City Police Station for offences punishable under Ss. 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).

(2.) The prosecution case, in brief, is that on 28/6/2023 at about 6.30 p.m., one Mukramali Hashmad Kasar visited Panvel City Police Station and lodged a report stating that at about 7.00 a.m. the same morning, he had received a call from the wife of his brother, Mohd. Aslam Harshad, inquiring about her husband's whereabouts. She told him that her husband had called her at about 2.00 a.m. saying that he would reach his native place by train at 7.00 a.m., but he never arrived and his phone was found switched off. Based on this report, a missing person's complaint bearing No.68 of 2023 was registered.

(3.) During the course of inquiry, it was revealed that on 27/6/2023 at about 9.30 a.m., the deceased Mohd. Aslam Harshad was last seen in the company of the present applicant. The police questioned the applicant, who allegedly confessed that he had borrowed Rs.57,000.00 from the deceased over a period of time. On 27/6/2023, when the deceased demanded repayment, a quarrel took place between them. The deceased allegedly abused the applicant verbally and physically, upon which the applicant, in a fit of anger, beheaded the deceased with a fish-cutting knife. The applicant allegedly placed the body and the head in twelve different gunny bags and disposed of them.