MANOJ SHIVAJI TRIMUKHE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant aggrieved by the Judgment and order dated 21-2-1994 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Pune in Sessions Case No. 295 of 1993, convicting and sentencing him to undergo life imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 2000/- in default to suffer R. I. for three months under section 302 I. P. C. has come up in appeal before us.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated the prosecution case runs as under:---The informant Shankar Rajwade P. W. 1 was a friend of the deceased Balu Padale. On 8-4-1993 at about 9. 15 p. m. the informant went to a betel shop. Near that shop, the deceased Balu Padale, Nitin Dhakate, Sonkul, Lalit Gujar and Pravin Bhalange were sitting. The appellant and the acquitted accused Nagesh Tirmukhe who was also standing near by called Balu Padale by signs. Balu told them that he would not come and they should come near him. Accordingly, the appellant and the acquitted accused came near him. One of them told Balu that his maternal uncle was calling him. Balu Padale replied that he did not know his maternal uncle and they should leave him. At that co-accused Nagesh Tirmukhe caught hold of Balus collar and the appellant took out a knife from the pocket of his pant and inflicted one blow with the same on Balus person. Balu fell down on receiving the injury. The appellant and Nagesh Tirmukhe are thereafter alleged to have run away. They were chased by informant Shekhar Khedkar P. W. 4 and Nitin Dhakate, P. W. 2. With the help of a police constable Dasrath Kasbe P. W. 11 the appellant was arrested along with a blood stained knife near Apollo Theatre. Thereafter, in a rickshaw, he was brought to the place of the incident. In the same rickshaw, deceased Balu Padale who was still alive and the appellant were taken to police chowky. From there, Balu was sent to a hospital.

(3.) ON 8-4-1993, at 9. 45 p. m. Balu Padale was admitted in Surgical Ward of Sasoon Hospital, Pune. There he was medically examined by Dr. A. U. Rathod P. W. 8. The doctor found that his general condition was very low. At about 1. 30 a. m. Balu Padale succumbed to his injuries at the Sasoon Hospital, Pune. The F. I. R. of the incident was lodged by A. P. I. Vishwanath Bhandare P. W. 14 at Samarth police station on the dictation of Shankar Rajwade. On its basis a case under section 307 I. P. C. was registered. It is at Exhibit 16.