1 mpt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION NO. 728 OF 2008 Vimalbhai Baban Randive & Anr. .. Applicants versus State of Maharashtra .. Respondent ... Mr.V.V. Purwant for the applicant. Mr.K.V. Saste APP for the State. CORAM : D.G.KARNIK, J DATED : 26th March 2008 P.C.: 1. By this application, applicants seek bail in connection with C.R.No.121 of 2007 for the alleged offence punishable u/s.302, 307, 498A with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. 2. Applicant no.1 is the mother-in-law of the deceased. The applicant no.2 is the cousin sister of 2 the applicant no.1. 3. According to the prosecution, the deceased was being harassed by her mother in law, the applicant no.1 by demanding that the deceased should bring Rs.40,000/- from her parents. On 21st June 2007 when the deceased was in the house of her parents, the applicants came there and asked her whether her parents had arranged for Rs.40,000/-. As the money was not aranged, in the evening the applicants doused the deceased with kerosene taken out from the stove and burnt her alive. The deceased was taken to the Sasoon General Hospital, her statement was recorded in the hospita. The Medical Officer has certified that she was conscious and in a position to give statement. In the said statement, the deceased has unequivocally stated that the applicants had set her on fire. 4. Learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the second statement of the deceased is not clearly intelligible and the statement of the driver of the jeep who took the deceased to the hospital indicates that the applicant was tutored while on way to the hospital. regards the second statement, there may be some incoherance because of the worsening of her condition. The statement of the jeep driver does 3 not disclose tutoring as alleged. 5. The statement of the deceased clearly implicates the applicants to the crime. The evidentiry value of that statement and the other evidence can be ascertained only at the trial. At this stage, it is sufficient to say that there is prima facie material implicating the applicants to the crime. 6. The offence is a serious offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life. Since there is a prima facie material available against the applicants, in my view, they are not entitled to bail at this stage. Hence, the application for bail is rejected. (D.G. KARNIK, J)