SHIVAJI LAXMAN JADHAV Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Appellant has challenged the Judgment and order dtd. 24/3/2015 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Malshiras, in Sessions Case No.1 of 2014. Vide the impugned judgment and order, the Appellant was convicted for commission of offence punishable U/s.302 of the I.P.C. He was sentenced to suffer R.I. for life and to pay a fine of Rs.5000.00 and in default to suffer further R.I. for one year.

(2.) Heard Mr. Yashpal Thakur, learned counsel for the Appellant and Smt. Mankuwar Deshmukh, learned APP for the State.

(3.) The prosecution case is that, the Appellant was working with the deceased Dattatraya Shinde. The Appellant was addicted to ganja. There used to be frequent quarrels between the deceased as the employer and the Appellant as an employee. A quarrel took place between the Appellant and Dattatraya in the late evening on 28/8/2013. On the next day morning, Dattatraya's wife Suman saw the appellant standing next to Dattatraya's bed. The Appellant was having an axe in his hand. Dattatraya had sustained bleeding head injury. On seeing Dattatraya's wife, the appellant ran away. Before going away, he kept the axe in the store room. Dattatraya's cousin who was residing nearby saw the Appellant running away from Dattatraya's house. One other neighbour Annasaheb Shinde also saw the appellant running away. One Deepak Jadhav saw the appellant going towards another village. The Appellant was seen with blood stained clothes, therefore, Deepak tried to catch him, but the Appellant could not be caught. In the meantime, Dattatraya's brother lodged the F.I.R. vide C.R.No.67 of 2013, under Sec. 302 of the I.P.C. at Velapur police station. The investigation was carried out, the inquest panchanama was conducted, the dead body was sent for postmortem examination, the spot panchanama was conducted and the blood stained axe was seized. The Appellant was arrested and, at his instance, his blood stained clothes were seized. The articles were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for chemical analysis. At the conclusion of the investigation, the charge-sheet was filed and the case was committed to the Court of Session.