1 mpt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPLICATION No. 4696 of 2009 Jyotiba @ Sarja Sidram Mohite & ors ... Applicants versus The State of Maharashtra ... Respondent ... Mr. A.P. Mundargi Sr. Advocate with Mr.Avinash Kamkhedkar for applicants. Mr.A.S.Gadkari APP for the State. CORAM : D.G. KARNIK, J. DATED : 11th January 2010 P.C. 1. The applicants seek bail in connection with a crime registered at Jail Road police station under C.R.No.100 of 2009 for an offence punishable u/s.302 and other sections of the IPC. 2. An FIR was lodged initially u/s.307 of the IPC on 7th June 2009 by Mr.Rohit Sopan Sabale. He is an eye witness. He lodged an FIR and named 6 assailants of his cousin brother Deepak as Anand Jadhav (Dashrath) Tatya Vadtile, Bhagya, Ganesh Jadhav, Shivanand Wadkar, 2 and Anant Kadam. In the FIR, he did not name the present applicants as assailants. He did not even state that the applicant was present at the scene of the offence. However in the supplementary statement dated 11th June 2009 recorded two days after the death of Deepak, he named the present applicants amongst the assailants. In the supplementary statement, he has also stated about the enmity and the previous quarrel with the applicants on account of caste reasons. He has further stated that since he and other eye witnesses were passing through same lane everyday, they knew the applicants even in the past. 3. The fact that the applicants were known to the First Informant who is an eye witness and yet he did not name them in the FIR is significant. Further the fact of previous enmity, cannot rule out the possibility of false implication. There were three other eye witnesses. Statement of none of them was recorded on 7th June 2009, soon after the FIR was recorded nor was their statement recorded immediately after the death of Deepak which happened on the morning of 9th June 2009. No explanation has been offered why the statements of the other eye witnesses were not recorded for four days after the lodging of the FIR and more than 48 hours even after the knowledge of the death of Deepak by the police. 3 3. In view of these circumstances, though the offence is serious. The applicants can be granted bail subject to strict conditions. Hence I pass the following order:­ O R D E R Applicants are released on bail on personal bond of Rs.25,000/­ each with two sureties by each of them subject to the following conditions:­ i) The applicants shall not tamper with the prosecution evidence nor give any of the witnesses any threat. ii) The applicants shall not enter the Solapur city except with the prior permission of the Sessions Court and except for the purpose of attending the Court. iii) The applicants shall report to the nearest police station, which shall be intimated by the police to the applicants at the time of their release, on 1st or 2nd and 15th or 16th of every British Calendar month. (D.G. KARNIK,J.)