SUBHASH MALLIKARJUN MENASE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SINCE these four connected matters arise out of the same set of facts and a common impugned judgment, we are disposing them off by one Judgment. Subhash mallikarjun Menase the original accused was tried by the iind Additional Sessions Judge, Solapur, in Sessions Case no. 127 of 1984 for offences punishable under sections 302/324/326 of Indian Penal Code and was convicted and sentenced vide Judgment dated 22-1-1985 in the manner stated hereinafter :-

(2.) IN short, the prosecution case runs as under :- The informant Sharanappa Revansidhappa Hulle PW 5, was the husband of the deceased Annapurna. The couple had no issues and therefore adopted Revansidha alias Vilas P. W. II as their son. Muktabai PW 8 was the real sister of annapurna. She had two daughters namely Papi alias Snehiata pw 10 and Surekha. The latter was married to Revansidha alias Vilas. The said persons lived together in a house called Hulle Nivas at Shelgi within the limits of Taluka police station in the District of Solapur. Sharanappa Hulle PW 5 had five tenants. One of them was the accused Subhash Menase. He wanted his tenants to vacate their respective premises as he was short of accommodation. On this score, relations between him and the accused got strained. On 20-4-1984, at about 8 a. m. Papi PW 10 had gone to the back side of the house and a quarrel between her and the accused took place. When Annapurna intervened in the same, the appellant inflicted stick blows on her person. Annapurna lodged complaint (Exhibit 26) in respect of that incident. The same day the accused after locking his room went away. On 23-4-1984, at about 7 a. m. Papi went to bring a packet of biscuits. She came back and informed the deceased and others that accused was in Mallikarjun temple. Consequently, Sharanappa along with Revansidha, Annapurna, muktabai and Papi went to Mallikarjun temple to tell him to remove his luggage. On reaching the temple, Sharanappa and others found that the accused armed with a knife (at some places, it has been described as a gupti) was standing near the platform of the temple. On seeing Sharanappa and others, he pushed Papi, sat on her back and started inflicting knife blows thereon. Revansidha rushed to her rescue and thereupon he set her free and started inflicting knife blows on his ribs. In the meantime, he gave a knife blow on the stomach of Annapurna who succumbed to her injuries instantaneously. When Muktabai rushed to the rescue, he inflicted a knife blow on her stomach. Muktabai caught hold of the knife and sharanappa also tried to catch hold of it and in that process, both Sharanappa and the accused sustained injuries, on their hands. Apart from the victims, this incident was also seen by mallikarjun Patil, Chanappa Bableshwar and Basawaraj kumbhar. Immediately after the incident, a rickshaw was arranged for and in the same, Sharanappa, Revansidha, muktabai and Papi came to the Civil Hospital, Solapur.

(3.) THE injuries of Muktabai, Sharanappa, Revansidha and papi were medically examined the same day, between, 7. 15 a. m. and 8. 30 a. m. at the General Hospital Solapur by Dr. Ramesh Dadake PW 3. On the person of Muktabai, the doctor found a stab wound below xiphisternum of the size of 7. 5 cms. x 2. 54 cms. x 10 cms. The said injury was grievous in nature and was attributable to a sharp weapon like gupti (Article No. 25) shown to him. On the person of Sharanappa, a contusion 1 cm. x 0. 5 cms. over right lateral aspect of wrist joint was found. It was simple in nature and attributable to a hard and blunt object. On the person of Revansidha, following injuries were found :-