VIKAS HARI JADHAV Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Being aggrieved by the judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Solapur in Sessions Case no. 215 of 2000 on 31. 12. 2002 the appellantaccused has preferred this appeal on the grounds mentioned in the memo of appeal as also verbally canvassed before us.

(2.) With the assistance of the learned Advocate for the appellant as also the learned Public Prosecutor we have scrutinized the entire evidence on record and reappreciated the same.

(3.) The prosecution case is that the accused and the deceased were residents of village Dadpur, Taluka Mohol, District Solapur and they had adjoining agricultural lands and there existed dispute between them with regard to boundaries of each holding. The deceased was also serving as an Assistant teacher in the Primary School of Zilla Parishad at village Shingoli. On 2. 8. 2000at about 11. 00 a. m. the accused came to the Zilla Parishad school premises, entered the class room where the Head Mistress Leelawatibai and the victim were working on three monthly report of the school to be submitted to the zilla Parishad. When Head Mistress saw the accused she questioned him as to why he was in the class room to which the accused brandished two knives in his hand and rushed to assault Dattatraya the victim. The accused went out of the class room and the door was closed by the victims. There was no latch and therefore they pressed the door with their hands while the accused was trying to break open the door from the other side. He ultimately proved powerful and there was gap in the door, he wielded the sattur (knife) and caused injury on the hand of head mistress as a result of which she could not press the door any more, the accused overpowered the victim, entered the room and started assaulting the victim. The assault was so harsh and grievous that the children started shouting and ran away. While the assault was going on the victim ran away from the room but was chased by the accused who fell the victim to ground and again started assaulting him. Post mortem report proves that the victim had as many as 25 injuries on his person. When this slautering of victim was going on at the hands of the accused, Bhimrao one of the villagers arrived on the scene of offence having heard the shouts of the children and saw the accused sitting on the chest of the victim and giving blows with the knife on his stomach and hitting his intestine. Seeing the witness the accused fled from the place. The victim was declared dead on the spot. The police was informed and the accused was arrested. The prosecution charged him under section 302 of indian Penal Code, examined 10 witnesses to prove his guilt and the learned trial Judge on appreciation of the evidence on record came to the conclusion that the prosecution had proved beyond doubt the involvement of the accused in the murder of the victim. He therefore sentenced the accused to suffer imprisonment for life. The accused impugns this order in this appeal.