1 SNS IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.853 OF 2011 1 Dipak alias Dalya Vishwanath Gangurde 2 Sambhaji Motilal Bhagat ..Applicants. v/s. The State ..Respondent. Mr. V.S.Agarwal, adv. for the Applicants. Mr. Y.S.Shinde, APP for the respondent/State. CORAM : J.H.BHATIA, J. DATE : 7th December, 2011 PC : 1 Applicants seek to be released on bail in crime no.52 of 2011 registered under Sections 364, 302, 201 r/w section 34 IPC at Manmad town police station, District: Nashik. 2 Prosecution case in brief, is that, the deceased Prabhakar and the accused no.1 Raju Shinde were leaders of two rival groups in Gram Panchayat. Raju Shinde was Up-Sarpanch of village. Dispute occurred between Raju Shinde and the deceased Prabhakar. At the instance of Prabhakar, all the members of the Gram Panchayat had given their resignations and as a result, the accused no.1 Raju Shinde had to lose post of the Up-Sarpanch. Since then Raju Shinde had a grievance against Prabhakar and he had threatened to kill him. On 5.4.2011, deceased 2 Prabhakar left his house but did not come back and in spite of search, he could not be found. Therefore, on 7.4.2011, missing report was lodged by son of the deceased Prabhakar showing suspicion against Raju Shinde. On the basis of that suspicion, accused no.1 Raju was arrested and crime no. 52/2011 was registered under Section 364 IPC. 3 According to the prosecution, during the interrogation by police, Raju Shinde confessed to have committed murder of the said Prabhakar with the help of his companions. His statement led to the arrest of several persons including the present applicants and also discovery of material evidence. 4 As per the memorandum of statement of Raju Shinde , he and another accused Kiran Shinde were on watch to find opportunity to finish Prabhakar. On 5.4.2011 at about 8 p.m. said Prabhakar passed from Daregaon Phata by his motor cycle and this information was conveyed by Kiran Shinde to Raju Shinde. Thereafter, Raju Shinde immediately removed front and back side plates of his Indica car and he put two koyatas, i.e., sickles in the vehicle. His companion Gokul Suryavanshi was in the car. Both of them went towards the spot where Prabhakar was expected. Kiran Shinde also left for the same area by his motor cycle. Gokul Suryavanshi dashed Indica against the motorcycle of Prabhakar due to which he fell down in drainage. At the same time, car was also stopped and Kiran Shinde 3 also came there by his motor cycle. Kiran Shinde telephonically informed his servant Deepak @ Dalya Gangurde, who is the applicant no.1 to bring torch which he brought. Thereafter, Gokul Suryavanshi and Kiran Shinde tied hands and legs of the deceased Prabhakar and he was thrown on the back seat of the car. Raju Shinde gave injection of anesthesia to Prabhakar and after his movements were stopped, Raju strangulated Prabhakar. He also assaulted on his head with the stone due to which hands and clothes of Raju, Kiran and Gokul were stained with blood. According to him, these persons changed the clothes and blood stained clothes, towel, slippers and slippers of Prabhakar as well as sickles were put in gunny bag. That gunny bag was handed over to the applicant no.1 Deepak @ Dalya and he was asked to conceal the same, which he did. According to the prosecution, later on, on the basis of information given by the applicant no.1, these articles were recovered. 5 As per the statement of Raju Shinde after this offence was committed, he contacted the applicant no.2 Sambhaji Bhagat and asked him to conceal motor-cycle of Prabhakar which he did. According to the prosecution, on the basis of information given by Sambhaji, the said motor- cycle was recovered. Muddemal property was referred to C.A. However, the C.A. Report is not available even though period of about 8 months has passed. On the last date, this Court had directed C.A. to complete analysis 4 and to submit C.A. Report. But according to the prosecution, C.A. has expressed inability to complete the work within 90 days. It means that C.A. Report is not likely to be available till the end of February, 2012. Police have already completed the investigation and the charge-sheet is also filed in July, 2011 without C.A.Report. 6 Taking into consideration the material on record, even if it is taken at the face value, it is clear that none of the applicants was involved in the abduction or in the murder of the deceased Prabhakar. Applicant Deepak was the servant of Raju Shinde and as per telephonic message from the employer, he approached him. After the offence was committed, Raju Shinde handed over gunny bag containing certain weapons and blood stained clothes and asked him to conceal which he did. Similarly, the applicant no.2 was asked to conceal motor-cycle which he did. Thus, role of the present applicants was restricted to concealing or destroying the evidence, which is an offence under Section 201 IPC. Taking into consideration the role of the present applicants in the commission of offence, I find no valid reasons to refuse bail to them. 7 Therefore, the applicants be released on their executing PR of Rs.25,000/- each with surety in the like amount with condition that they shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence and shall also report at the concerned police station on every Monday till the end of the trial. 5 8 Application stands disposed off accordingly. (J.H.BHATIA, J.)