DARSHAN HIRU SHIVDASANI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is filed by the appellant being aggrieved by the judgment delivered by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, City Civil and Sessions Court, Greater Mumbai in Sessions Case No. 447 of 2008 on 30th March, 2010 thereby convicting the appellant for commission of offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC and sentencing him to suffer life imprisonment and to pay fine of Rs.10,000/-.

(2.) In order to effectively deal with the said appeal, it is necessary to reproduce the case of the prosecution.

(3.) Based on the said complaint, an FIR was registered at the Oshiwara Police Station vide C.R. No. 186 of 2008 against Darshan Hiru Shivdasani, the present appellant and the investigating machinery was set into motion. Shri Dattatraya Ganpat Sankhe (Police Inspector) attached to Oshiwara Police Station (PW No.17), visited the place of incident on receipt of a phone call at around 6:30 p.m. When PW 17 reached the spot, the complainant lodged the report which was scribed and registered as FIR and immediately the police personnel were sent in search of accused Darshan as he was specifically named by the complainant in the FIR. The Investigating Officer recorded the statements of witnesses and during investigation it was revealed to him from the complainant that she received the SMS from her brother Darshan and a team headed by PSI Kadam (PW No.15) was deputed to apprehend him at Pune. The accused was produced in Oshiwara Police Station on 9th April, 2008 and he was interrogated and arrested. The accused was produced before the Court and Investigating Officer secured police custody remand (PCR) of the accused and the further investigation was carried out. It is the case of the prosecution that after commission of the crime, the accused had concealed himself in a hotel at Kolhapur in the name of Raju Mathur and reported his address as Mira Road. The case of the prosecution is that the accused stayed in the hotel for two days and thereafter he transited to hotel "Rajashri" in Pimpri, Pune and again concealed his identity and recorded his name as Rahul Sharma in the hotel register. On the next day, while he was staying in the said hotel, a telephone call was received in the hotel from a woman informing hotel Manager that the customer who was booked in room No. 208 is ailing and he should be taken to the hospital and when the Manager (PW 12) Shri Ashok Bhere, entered the room, he saw a customer in semi-conscious condition, and heavily drunk he carried the said customer to Yashwantrao Chavan Hospital, Pimpri and admitted him.