1 abs FARAD CONTINUATION IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 5849 OF 2009 Manohar Khandappa Alkunte .. Applicant V/s The State of Maharashtra .. Respondent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Court's or Judge's Orders Coram, appearances, Court's Orders or directions and Registrar's Orders Mr. V.V. Purwant for the applicant. Mrs. A.A. Mane, A.P.P. for the State. CORAM : D.G. KARNIK, JJ. DATE : 6TH JANUARY 2010 P.C. : 1. Heard both sides. 2. By this application, the applicant seeks bail in connection with an offence registered under C.R. No.144 of 2009 with Faujdar Chawdi Police Station punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. 2 3. The deceased was the wife of the applicant. According to the prosecution, she was burnt alive by the applicant with the help of his mistress Yallubai. A dying declaration was recorded in which she implicated the applicant and Yallubai. 4. Learned counsel for the applicant invited my attention to an earlier dying declaration recorded about 16 hours earlier. In the said dying declaration, the deceased had stated that she herself poured the rockoil on her body and she herself lit the matchstick and burnt herself. In the statement, she stated that despite the fact that the applicant and his mistress Yallubai was present at the place of incidence, they did not make any attempt to save her. 5. Prima facie, there is a great variance between the two dying declarations. From the first dying declaration, the applicant appears to have committed suicide. Though that may give 3 rise to an offence punishable under section 306 and/or section 498-A of the I.P.C., but that was not the prosecution case. In view of the variance between the two dying declarations, in my view, the applicant can be granted conditional bail. Hence, I pass the following order: ORDER The applicant be released on bail in the sum of Rs.20,000/- with two sureties of the like amount subject to the following conditions: (i) The applicant shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence. (ii) Till the conclusion of the trial, the applicant shall not change his place of residence nor shall he leave the Solapur District except for casual visits, but that too with prior intimation to the police by giving the details of place of visit and the purpose thereof. 4 (iii) The applicant shall report his presence to the concerned police station once every week on Monday or Tuesday till the conclusion of trial. (D.G. KARNIK, J.)