BA-938-11.sxw 1 Dixit IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.938 OF 2011 Gorakh Baburao Pandhare ... Applicant V/s. The State of Maharashtra ... Respondent Mr. S.V. Kotwal, i/b. Mr. M.S. Mohite and Mr. A.R. Kapadnis, for the Applicant. Mrs. R.V. Newton, APP, for the Respondent. CORAM:- A.M. THIPSAY, J. DATED :- 9 TH AUGUST, 2011. P.C. : 1. Heard. 2. I have gone through the Bail Application and the Charge-Sheet that has been annexed thereto. 3. Priyanka - the wife of the Applicant - died an unnatural death on 10th February, 2011 or 11th February, 2011. The dead body of Priyanka was found in a well containing water. On post-morten examination, the cause of death was opined to be ‘asphyxia due to drowning’. However, Priyanka's father Pandurang Gardare, on 12th Febraury, 2011, lodged a report with the Police that Priyanka was being treated with cruelty by the Applicant and his relatives, and that she was being harassed for the purpose of dowry. 4. He suspected that Priyanka had been murdered by the Applicant and his relatives. On this report, a case in respect of offences punishable under Sections 302 IPC, 304-B IPC, 498-A IPC read with Section 34 of the IPC was BA-938-11.sxw 2 Dixit registered against the Applicant, Applicant's father and Applicant's mother and they were arrested. The other Accused, i.e. Applicant's father and mother, have been released on bail by the Court of Sessions. 5. The belief of the First Informant is that Priyanka was murdered, and that, thereafter, her body was thrown in the Well. This is not supported from the report of the post-mortem examination, which states that the death could have been caused by asphyxia due to drowning. In the second post-mortem examination, that was done at the instance of the First Informant, the cause of death has not been mentioned and it is mentioned that ‘visera preserved for analysis’. The suspicion felt by the First Informant is based on some injuries found on the dead body. These injuries are of a minor nature and can by no stretch of imagination be held to be the cause of death. The statement of one Smt. Kalpana narrates the happenings on 10th February, 2011. 6. That Priyanka was murdered is only an inference drawn by the First Informant, which is in all probability has occasioned due to the grief caused to him on account of the untimely and unnatural death of Priyanka. It is difficult to hold with the degree of requisite certainty, that the death of Priyanka must be homicidal and not suicidal or accidental. The investigation is over. 7. Considering the nature of material that is available against the Applicant, I am inclined to release him on bail. 8. The Bail Application is allowed. 9. The Applicant is ordered to be released on bail in the sum of Rs.40,000/-, with one surety in like amount. [A.M. THIPSAY, J.]