SONU VIRENDRA CHAVAN Vs. THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant has taken an exception to the impugned judgment and order dtd. 13/1/2012 by which he was convicted for the offence punishable under sec. 302 of Indian Penal Code (for short "IPC") and was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.500.00.

(2.) Before we deal with the facts of the case, we must note here that the only submission of the learned counsel appearing for the appellant is that the case of the appellant will fall under Exception 4 to sec. 300 of IPC and, therefore, at highest, the offence punishable under sec. 304 of IPC would be attracted.

(3.) As per the case of the prosecution, the appellant- accused and the deceased were employed in the same shop. The incident is of 12/6/2009 and the deceased succumbed to the injuries on 16/6/2009. The case of the prosecution is that the appellant and the deceased were working in the same shop and used to sleep in the said shop. The prosecution case is that P.W.6- Manoj, on 12/6/2009 at 1.30 a.m., called the complainant- Tukaram (P.W.1) as the said Manoj heard shouts from the said shop. The P.W.1- Tukaram, therefore, went to the shop when he found that the rolling shutter of the shop was closed. He knocked the shutter and called his servants who were sleeping in the shop. The accused opened the shutter after some time. The explanation for delay in opening the shutter by the accused was that he was changing the clothes. P.W.1- Tukaram found that clothes of the appellant were smeared with blood. He noted that the deceased Ashish was lying in the pool of blood and even there was a blood on the clothes of his person. He saw a sickle and a paper cutter and a blade lying on the spot. When P.W.1 enquired with the appellant- accused as to what transpired, the appellant disclosed that there was a quarrel between him and the deceased. Thereafter the appellant went away. His sons and the said Manoj informed the Police about the incident. The victim was admitted to Central Hospital, Ulhasnagar for medical treatment who was later on shifted Municipal Hospital at Sion, Mumbai. It is claimed by the prosecution that the victim was unconscious till his death. As stated earlier, the death occurred on 16/6/2009.