PANDURANG LIMBAJI LANDE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE judgment and order dated 31st March 1994 passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Solapur, in Sessions Case No. 283 of 1993 is challenged in this appeal by the appellant (original accused ). By the aforesaid judgment, accused/appellant was convicted for the offence under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (I. P. C.) and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life.

(2.) ACCORDING to the prosecution, deceased Sukhdeo Lande and accused Pandurang Lande are cousins. There was a dispute with regard to the fields which they occupied. According to the prosecution, the said dispute was settled, but after that again dispute arose on the allegation that the accused had changed boundary of their fields and then deceased restored the boundary. On this issue, a quarrel ensued between them. On 24th August 1993 at about 9. 00 a. m. the deceased, after giving water to his crops from the well in the field of Ganpati Patkar, put off the electric motor there and he was standing there. The accused went there and asked deceased Sukhdeo why he ploughed his boundary and abused him. Deceased Sukhdeo told the accused that four persons should be called and according to their opinion the place of boundary should be fixed. The accused did not pay any heed to it. He threatened Sukhdeo that he would kill him. He then pulled him down. He gave 10 blows with a knife on his chest and abdomen. Sukhdeo was shouting, hearing which P. W. No. 12 Pramod went there and requested the accused to stop. P. W. 12 went to call somebody to rescue Sukhdeo. P. W. 5 Krishnadeo went there. When he went there, the accused was holding the collar of Sukhdeo by his left hand, giving knife blows on the chest and abdomen of Sukhdeo sitting on his chest. P. W. 5 caught hold of the accuseds banian and pulled him back from the chest of Sukhdeo. P. W. 13 then brought a Dhoti and wrapped the injuries of Sukhdeo with it. The deceased was taken to General Hospital, Solapur. There, at about 12. 30 p. m. , P. W. 14 Dr. Borde examined him. P. W. 6 Head Constable Shaikh, who was on duty at the General Hospital, Solapur, informed the matter to the Police Station, Sadar Bazar. On that day at about 1. 15 p. m. P. W. 11 Head Constable Gumasthe was directed from the Police Station, Mohol, to go to General Hospital, Solapur. He gave requisition (copy Exhibit 15) to P. W. No. 2 Tarapure, Special Executive Magistrate. P. W. 6 Head Constable Shaikh, P. W. 2 Tarapure and P. W. 11 Head Constable Gumasthe recorded the dying declaration of Sukhdeo at Exhibits 37, 24 and 45-A respectively. On the basis of the dying declaration (Exhibit 45-A ) offence was registered as Crime No. 117/1993 on 24th August 1993 at 6. 30 p. m. At about 7. 15 p. m. on that day, P. W. No. 15, A. P. I. Sinnarkar, seized shirt (Article No. 1) and blood-stained Pyjama (Article No. 2 ) of the accused. On 25th August 1993, P. W. 15 inspected the spot of the incident and prepared panchanama (Exhibit 6 ). On 26th August 1993 the accused made disclosure statement about the knife. It was recorded at Exhibit 42. He took A. P. I. Sinnarkar and the panchas to the hut near the well where the incident took place and took out the knife (Article No. 6) which was seized, vide panchanama (Exhibit 43 ). On 27th August 1993 Sukhdeo died in the General Hospital, Solapur. The post-mortem examination report (Exhibit 10) prepared by Dr. Kanki shows that Sukhdeo died due to shock and haemorrahage due to stab injuries on the chest and injuries to both the lungs. The articles were sent to Chemical Analyser, Pune. Report of the Chemical Analyser is at Exhibit 61. At the trial, the accused denied the charge. P. W. 15 A. P. I. Sinnarkar investigated the offence.

(3.) OUT of the witnesses examined by the prosecution in this case, we have P. W. 5, P. W. 12 and P. W. 13 who were present at the time of incident. According to P. W. 12 Pramod Lane, he knew the deceased. He was having his field 500 and 600 feet away from the spot of the incident. The spot is near the well in the field of one Patkar. He says that at about 5 to 6 months ago one day at about 9. 00 a. m. he was present in his field. While he was harrowing the field, he heard noise of shouts from the side of the well in the field of Patkar. So he went running there. The accused was found sitting on the chest of Sukhdeo. He was holding collar of shirt of Sukhdeo with one hand moving it and giving fist blows with his other hand. He asked the accused not to beat. The accused said that he should not interfere and it would not be good for him. He also said that he saw accused giving knife blow on chest of Sukhdeo. Sukhdeo shouted Melo-re. He started running to contact someone to rescue Sukhdeo with his help. Krishnadeo Patil (P. W. 5) was found running towards that well. P. W. 5 Krishnadeo came to the spot of the incident and caught hold of the banian of the accused and separated him from the person of Sukhdeo. The accused went away. There were 10 to 11 bleeding injuries on the chest and abdomen of Sukhdeo.