MANJEETKUMAR SHRIRAMRUP SAROJ Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant has filed this appeal being aggrieved by judgment and order dtd. 31/3/2021, passed by the Court of District Judge-9 and Additional Sessions Judge, Thane (hereinafter referred to as 'the Sessions Court'), in Sessions Case No.148 of 2018, whereby the Sessions Court has convicted the appellant for offences under Ss. 302 and 379 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and also to suffer rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay fine of Rs.1,000.00 each on both counts.

(2.) The prosecution case in brief is that the first informant i.e. prosecution witness No.1 (PW1) - Sandesh Khandagale, was running a small restaurant by the name of Tanduri Corner and Chinese Centre, near a bus stop at Purna-Bhiwandi, Thane, wherein he had three employees. One chef that is the deceased, and two waiters, one was the appellant and the other was a person named Kamlesh. It is the case of the prosecution that on 5/7/2017, in the evening, there was a quarrel between the deceased and the appellant. In fact, it is claimed that they used to have such quarrels intermittently. It was claimed that with the intervention of PW1, the quarrel was settled down and both of them agreed to work together. PW1 further stated that on 5/7/2017, at about 11:30 p.m. in the night, when he left the restaurant, the three employees were together and that as usual they stayed back in the restaurant during the night. In other words, the prosecution claims that all the three employees used to sleep in the restaurant after the restaurant was closed for the day.

(3.) On 6/7/2017, at about 6:00 a.m. in the morning, PW3- Shoibuddin, who used to run a pan shop near the restaurant, called PW4 i.e. the brother of PW1, on his mobile, and told him that the chef that is the deceased had been injured and that he along with his brother PW1 should come immediately to the restaurant. Consequently, PW1 and his brother PW4, as also their brother Kalpesh, all three of them went to the restaurant in the morning at about 6:10 a.m. They found that the third employee i.e. Kamlesh was standing outside the shop and that the shutter of the shop was half open. When they entered the shop, they found that the chef was in a badly injured condition, lying in a pool of blood on the floor. The forehead of the injured person was bleeding profusely and a gas cylinder nearby had bloodstains on it. It is claimed that when PW1-Sandesh his brother PW4-Bhavesh and the said pan shop owner PW3-Shoibuddin reached near where the injured was lying, the injured chef told the three persons that the appellant had assaulted him with the gas cylinder, resulting in the serious injuries. It is further claimed that the Police was informed and the injured was shifted to the hospital. But, he died at about 8:30 a.m. in the morning.