ANGAD VITHAL KOHALE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants (original accused Nos. 1 to 7 and 15), who were convicted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Latur, in Sessions Trial No. 35 of 1999, vide judgment and order dtd. 31/10/2002, have preferred the present appeal challenging:

(2.) The prosecution case, in brief, is that PW-3 Arvind Kohale, other injured witnesses, and the accused are residents of village Haregaon, Taluka Ausa, District Latur. On 12/12/1998, PW-3 Arvind Kohale lodged a report at Police Station Killari stating that his cousin, PW-2 Pratap Kohale, had gone with a tractor and trolley to load soil from heaps lying in the field of Vishnu Bapurao Kohale. Pratap Kohale returned and informed that accused Sugriv Pandit Kohale and Angad Kohale restrained him from lifting the soil, claiming that the soil belonged to them.

(3.) It is alleged that at about 9.00 a.m., accused Angad Kohale, Pandit Kohale, Sugriv Kohale, Netaji Kohale, Vasant Kohale, Vithal Kohale, Prabhakar Kohale, Ganesh Mudabe, and Mohan Kohale gathered near the tractor and trolley, armed with sticks, axes, daggers, and sugarcane cutters. When Govind Kohale questioned them about the restraint caused to Pratap Kohale, accused Angad Kohale assaulted Govind with a dagger and accused Pandit Kohale assaulted him with an axe. When PW-3 Arvind Kohale intervened, he and Govind were allegedly assaulted by accused Pandit Kohale, Angad Kohale, Netaji Kohale, Sugriv Kohale, and Ganesh Mudabe with axes, daggers, and sugarcane cutters. Accused Vasant Kohale, Mohan Kohale, and Prabhakar Kohale assaulted Vishnu and Karan with sticks and axes. After the incident, villagers gathered at the spot and intervened. Govind Kohale sustained multiple injuries and succumbed while being taken to Rural Hospital, Killari.