1 APPA 733/11 lgc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 733 OF 2011 IN APPEAL NO.608 OF 2010 Vishal @ Suraj S/o Arjun Singh Chouhan : Applicant. versus The State of Maharashtra : Respondent. Mr.S R Chitnis, Senior Counsel with Mrs. V R Raje for the Applicant. Mr. D P Adsule, APP for the State/Respondent. CORAM : NARESH H PATIL & K U CHANDIWAL, JJ DATE : 27TH JULY 2011 P.C. 1 Heard. 2 By this application, the applicant/accused prays for bail, pending appeal. 3 Shri.Chitnis, learned senior counsel appearing for the applicant, submits that there is no direct evidence in this case. The prosecution case is based mainly on identification of accused in court, recovery of clothes and complicity of co-accused in commission of crime. It is submitted that the prosecution has failed to lead cogent, reliable and 2 APPA 733/11 substantive evidence against the applicant. The statements of the prosecution witnesses mainly PW Nos.1, 4 and 6 were recorded after considerable time of the happening of the incident in question. The prosecution witnesses Nos.1, 4 and 6 are got up witnesses. The learned senior counsel submitted that identification of the applicant would be a piece of corroboration and has no consequence in this case considering the other circumstances brought on record by the prosecution. The motive behind commission of crime is to rob the deceased who was carrying bag containing gold ornaments and diamond pieces. The said bag was found on the spot and nothing was stolen from the said bag. It was submitted that the applicant is behind bar since last four years. Considering the fact that hearing of the appeal would take considerably long time, the applicant be released on bail. 4 Mr.Adsule, learned APP appearing for the State/Respondent opposes the application. He submitted that the application, being Criminal Application No.104 of 2011 filed by the co-accused Rakesh Kantilal Bachchawat and anr was rejected by the Division Bench of this Court (Coram : B H Marlapalle & U D Salvi, JJ) on 15/2/2011 and application being Criminal Application No.983 of 2010 filed by co-accused Shabbir @ Khadda S/o Feroz Khan was dismissed by the Division Bench of this Court (Coram A M Khanwilkar and U D Salvi, JJ) on 23/09/2010. The learned 3 APPA 733/11 APP submitted that there are four criminal cases registered against the applicant at police stations in Thane District and one criminal case is registered at Ravpura Police Station, Badoda. Our attention was invited to the evidence of prosecution witnesses including PW No.21 and the corroborative circumstances which are, according to learned APP, involves the applicant in commission of crime. 5 We find that the deceased was brutally assaulted. PW Nos.1 and 4 have identified the applicant. P.W. No.17 - the SEO conducted identification parade. The applications of co-accused Rakesh Kantilal Bachchawat and anr and Shabbir @ Khadda S/o Feroz Khan have been rejected by this Court. According to learned APP, there are five criminal cases registered against the applicant. Considering the nature of accusation and facts and circumstances of the case, we do not find that it would be desirable to release the applicant on bail. The other issues raised by the learned senior counsel for the applicant in respect of appreciation of evidence require deeper scrutiny and scanning which is possible at the final hearing stage of appeal. Application is rejected. (K U CHANDIWAL, J.) (NARESH H PATIL, J.)