PRASHANT NARAYANRAO CHIDAM Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All the above appeals are being disposed of by common judgment since they arise out of the judgment and order dated 28th July, 2004 passed by 2nd Adhoc Additional Sessions Judge, Wardha in Sessions Trial No.11/2003. By the said judgment, the trial Court has convicted Prashant Chidam, the appellant in Criminal Appeal No.510/2004 for offence punishable under Section 304 (II) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to suffer R.I. for 7 years and to pay fine of Rs. 500/- and in default to undergo R.I. for 15 days. Criminal Appeal No. 640/2004 has been filed by the State of Maharashtra challenging acquittal of Prashant Chidam and Gajanan Tirpude for offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Criminal Appeal No. 685/2004 has been filed by Anil Nagrale, the brother of the deceased Ramesh Nagrale challenging the acquittal of absconding accused Sanjay Chidam and Wilson.

(2.) Insofar as Criminal Appeal No. 685/2004 is concerned, though the appeal was admitted by this Court, the same is not maintainable under any of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. However, since the trial Court has acquitted absconding accused which is not permissible under any provisions of the law, Mr. Agasti, learned counsel for the appellant - Anil seeks leave to convert the appeal into revision for which the learned counsel for the respondents 1 and 2 have no objection. Accordingly, Criminal Appeal is allowed to be converted into revision. With the consent of learned counsel for the parties, the same is being disposed of along with other two criminal appeals.

(3.) Briefly, the prosecution case is as under:- At about 3.00 p. m. on 10.3.2001 which was the next day of .Holi. PW 3 Sanjay Patil, PW 2 Sanjay Sontakke and PW 7 Rajhans Punekar were standing in front of the shop of Rajhans. Deceased Ramesh was present near the shop of his brother. Suddenly, Prashant Chidam, Gajanan Tirpude and absconding accused Sanjay Chidam and one Wilson came on scooter and motor cycle from S.T. depot and parked their vehicles near the stall of Anil Nagrale. Sanjay Chidam caught hands of deceased Ramesh Nagrale and Prashant stabbed him in stomach and back. Ramesh Nagrale shouted whereupon PW 2 Sanjay Sontakke, PW 3 Sanjay Patil and PW 7 Rajhans Punekar rushed towards him. Gajanan Tirpude and Wilson threatened them by showing knives and said .BICHAME KOI ANA NAHI.. Ramesh Nagrale fell down. All the accused left the spot with their vehicles. Rajhans tied Dupatta to Ramesh and all three of them carried him to the General Hospital, Wardha. Thereafter Ramesh was taken to the hospital at Sewagram. PW 11 Prabhakar Vairagade, Head Constable, who was on duty at Sewagram Hospital, Wardha asked the Medical Officer whether the patient was fit to give his statement. The Medical Officer examined Ramesh Nagrale and found him fit to give statement and Shri Vairagade recorded his statement (Ex.51). On the basis of said dying declaration, offence vide Crime No. 79/2001 was registered against Prashant Chidam under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code since in the said statement Ramesh stated that Prashant had stabbed him. On 11.3.2001 at about 7.30 a. m. Ramesh succumbed to the injuries. Thereafter offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was added. The Investigating Officer PW 14 Shri Yasankar rushed to Sewagram Hospital and conducted inquest panchanama (Ex.24). The dead body of Ramesh was sent for post-mortem. PW 6 Dr. Bipinchandra Tirpude along with Dr. Pranab Choudhary conducted post-mortem on the dead body in the afternoon and found total seven injuries, out of which two were surgical injuries. The Investigating Officer also seized shirt and pant from accused Gajanan by seizure memo (Ex. 60). Blood stained shirt and pant of accused Prashant Chidam were seized under seizure memo (Ex.61). The spot panchanama (Ex.38) was conducted on 12.3.2001. On 13.3.2001 the Investigating Officer recovered a knife pursuant to confessional statement (Ex.63) made by Prashant from the pit situated in Dhanoli (Gawande) Shiwar and the same was seized vide seizure memo (Ex. 64). The blood stained clothes of the deceased were also seized vide seizure memo (Ex.48). On 12.4.2001 the seized articles were sent to Chemical Analysis. After completion of the investigation, the charge-sheet was filed against accused Prashant Chidam, Gajanan Tirpude and absconding accused Sanjay for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 326 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Wardha. The case was committed to the Court of Sessions. In Sessions Trial No.11/2003 the Court of Additional Sessions Judge framed charge for offence punishable under Sections 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code against Prashant Chidam and Gajanan Tirpude. Accused pleaded not guilty to the charge. In the Sessions Trial No.11/2003 the prosecution examined 14 witnesses and produced several documents some of which were admitted by the accused. The defence of the accused is of total denial. Further, the accused also came with the defence that there was quarrel between PW 2 Sanjay Sontakke, PW 3 Sanjay Patil and PW 7 Rajhans Punekar on one side and deceased Ramesh on other side on account of money and in that quarrel deceased Ramesh sustained injuries. The accused did not lead any defence evidence. The trial Court, upon appreciation of the evidence led by the prosecution, relied upon the dying declaration and held that offences under Sections 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code was not made out against the accused and consequently acquitted them of the said offences. However, the trial Court held accused Prashant Chidam guilty for offence punishable under Section 304 (II) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him as above. The trial Court acquitted absconding accused Sanjay and also said Wilson, who was not even named as absconding accused in the charge-sheet.