PARSHURAM KASHINATH CHAVAN Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Both these appeals have been heard together since they impugn the judgment in Sessions Case No.71 of 2002 decided by II Adhoc Additional Sessions Judge, Kolhapur. The Appellants Nos.1 and 2 in Criminal Appeal No.547 were accused Nos.1 and 2 before the Sessions Court. All the accused have been convicted for the offence punishable under section 302 r/w 34 of IPC. They are also convicted for the offence punishable under section 364 of IPC. They have been sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and payment of fine on each count.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that accused No.1 suspected that his wife had an illicit relationship with one Deepak More, who was a cable operator in their locality. At about 11.30am on 15.11.2001, a lady telephoned at the Mores' residence and asked for Deepak. She disclosed that she wanted a cable connection. Shamrao, Deepak's father informed her that Deepak had left the house and would return only in the afternoon for lunch and that she should call at about 2 pm. Accordingly, Deepak received a telephone call at about 2 pm and informed the caller that he and his assistant Vishal would reach near the hospital of Dr.Varute at about 4 pm and that the telephone caller should meet them thereafter. Deepak then left informing his father that he was going to the residence of the lady for providing her a cable connection for her television. At about 4 pm, the lady called again when Shamrao informed her that Deepak had already left for her house. At about 6.30pm, Vishal, Deepak's assistant returned to Deepak's house when Shamrao asked about the whereabouts of Deepak. According to the prosecution, Vishal informed Shamrao that accused No.1 had taken Deepak in a white Maruti car from a spot outside Dr.Varute's hospital. Accused Nos.2 and 3 were also in that car, besides another person unknown to Vishal. Shamrao received a telephone call at about 7.30 pm from his daughter informing him that a person named Chavan had informed her on the telephone that Deepak had met with an accident and was admitted in a hospital at Gandhinagar. Shamrao, Vishal and two others reached the hospital when they were informed that he had been admitted to another hospital for treatment. They found him lying on a stretcher waiting to be X-rayed. Deepak disclosed to Shamrao, in the presence of the persons accompanying him that the accused had taken him in a Maruti car to the Hatkangale hill. Deepak told his father that the accused and one other person unknown to him had assaulted him with cricket stumps. According to the victim, while being beaten, accused No.1 kept asking for the whereabouts of his wife, Vaishali. An FIR was lodged by Shamrao. He was advised by the Doctors to shift Deepak to a another hospital as the facilities required for treatment were unavailable in that hospital. Accordingly, Deepak was shifted to another hospital. On the basis of the FIR lodged with the police station on 16.11.2001, a crime was registered under section 326 r/w 34 of the IPC. It appears that Deepak then succumbed to his injuries at 8 am on 16.10.2001. The accused were apprehended on 17.11.2001. They were charged for having murdered Deepak More. Their trial was committed to Sessions Court, Kolhapur. They have been convicted and sentenced as aforesaid.

(3.) The case of the prosecution is based entirely on circumstantial evidence. The circumstances on which the prosecution has relied on are: (i) the wife of accused No.1 and the victim were well acquainted and they had met on an earlier occasion in a lodge; (ii) the accused suspected that illicit relations existed between the victim and his wife; (iii) a telephone call was received by Deepak More from a woman and he had proceeded to Dr.Varute's hospital as directed by the telephone caller; (iv) the victim was abducted by the accused in the presence of Vishal and; (v) Deepak had made an oral dying declaration to his father in the presence of Vishal and two other persons that it was the accused who had assaulted him, all the while asking for the whereabouts of the wife of accused No.1, Vaishali.