(1.) Both these criminal appeals are directed against judgment and order dated 21-8-2002 passed by 1st Ad-hoc Additional Sessions judge, Jalgao in Sessions Case No. 134/2001 convicting all the four accused for having committed murder of Kantilal Bhagchand Sharma of Jalgao. The accused are sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 500/-each in default to suffer further imprisonment for two months. Rustom (accused no. 1) , Nazir (accused No. 3) and Subhan (accused No. 4) have filed Criminal appeal No. 524/2002 and Hafiz (accused No. 2) has filed Criminal Appeal No. 564/2002, challenging order of conviction and sentence dated 21-8-2002. Both these appeals are disposed off by common order. As the accused have filed two different appeals, they are referred to in their original capacity as accused.
(2.) The prosecution case stated in brief is that Kantilal Bhagchand Sharma (deceased) owned agricultural lands at Mamurabad and was living in pardeshi wada (building) at Mamurabad. He was a rowdy and was engaged in the business of selling illicit liquor at Mamurabad. Later on Kanrilal shifted his residence to Jalgao and was living near Mamurabad Naka but had continued his business of selling illicit liquor and running gambling den at Mamurabad. Sk. Dilawar (P. W. 4) and Shabbirkhan were his friends. Mulayambi (P. W. 3) was working at the field of the deceased since prior to her marriage. She had divorced her pervious husband Kadar and had married Sk. Bismilla of village Korpavli. During the relevant period she was living at Mamurabad with her husband and sons Shakil (P. W. 8) and Hanif. Rustom (accused No. 1) and Nazir (accused No. 3) are her real brothers. Subhan (accused No. 4) is her maternal cousin and Hafiz (accused No. 2) is her nephew from maternal side. Her relations with her brothers who were living near her house were strained. The deceased used to visit her house whenever he came to Mamurabad.
(3.) On 28th April, 2001, Bismilla had been to his native place Korpavli for attending a marriage. As it was summer, Mulayambi and her sons were sleeping in the courtyard of her house. On that night at about 2. 00 O clock, the deceased came to her house from some fair in drunken condition and insisted on sleeping there as he was not in a position to drive motor cycle. Mulayambi allowed him to sleep on iron cot by the side of her son Shakil (P. W. 8). The deceased told her that he would leave at 4. 00 O clock in the morning. In the morning at about 6. 00 o clock, Mulayambi tried to wake up the deceased but he did not get up. She then started the daily routine of preparing Tiffin as they were to leave for work. At about 7. 30 on hearing noise of a fracas. Mulayambi came out and saw accused assaulting the deceased with axe, sticks and fire wood. Hafiz (accused No. 2) was inflicting blows on the head and back of the deceased by an axe. Rustom (accused No. 1) and Nazir (accused No. 3) were inflicting stick blows over head and back of the deceased and Subhan (accused No. 4) was dealing blows on the head of deceased with fire wood with such a ferocity that the wooden log was broken in two pieces. The deceased had sustained bleeding injuries. When she tried to resist, her brothers Nazir (accused No. 3) and (Rustom (accused No. 2) inflicted stick blows on her waist. After the assault, the assailants rushed towards dilawar (P. W. 4) who was standing in the courtyard of his house. Dilawar ran to the office of Police Patil which is at the village in Grampanchayat Building. On reaching the office Dilawar informed Madhavrao Ragho Patil (P. W. 9) that the accused had assaulted Kantilal and are coming after him. Police Patil Madhavrao gave shelter to Dilawar in his office and came out. On their arrival, all the accused confessed that they have committed murder of Kantilal and asked madhavrao to hand them over to the Police. Madhavrao confined the accused in gram Panchayat office on the first floor of the building and conveyed information regarding the incident to Jalgao Taluka police station on telephone. Head Constable Vishwas Patil who was performing duty as P. S. O. relayed this information to P. I. Ramesh Manohar Patil (P. W. 12).