BA-746-11.sxw 1 Dixit IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL BAIL APPLICATION NO.746 OF 2011 Sachin Ramesh Patil ... Applicant V/s. The State of Maharashtra ... Respondent Mr. M.S. Mohite for the Applicant. Mrs. S.D. Shinde, APP, for the Respondent. CORAM:- A.M. THIPSAY, J. DATED :- 25 TH JULY, 2011. P.C. : 1. Heard. 2. I have gone through the F.I.R. With the assistance of the learned Advocate for the Applicant and the learned APP for the Respondent, I have glanced through the entire Charge-Sheet. 3. One Sanjay Kini – Brother of the First Informant-Baliram – was murdered in the night of 30th November, 2010. The First Informant-Baliram suspected that the said murder must have been committed by the present Applicant as the said deceased-Sanjay Kini had murdered the father of the BA-746-11.sxw 2 Dixit present Applicant in the year 1992. The deceased Sanjay was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to imprisonment for life. According to the First Informant, he was released, after undergoing the sentence, about three years back, and that, therefore, since then there used to be quarrels between the Applicant and the said Sanjay. In the course of investigation, the Applicant and one more accused Ajay Kasare were arrested. After completion of investigation, a Charge-Sheet came to be filed against both of them. Ajay Kasare has been released on bail by the Court of Sessions. 4. The case against the Applicant is based only on circumstantial evidence. There are no witnesses who have seen the alleged assault. 5. The first circumstance relied upon against the Applicant is the enmity between the Applicant and the deceased, which existed because the deceased had murdered the Applicant’s father. However, it is clear that the deceased was released, after undergoing the sentence, about three years back and the statements recorded during investigation suggest that the deceased and the Applicant were on talking terms. That for about three years, no untoward incident took place between the Applicant and the deceased is relevant. The least, that can be said, is that it is not reflected that the Applicant was having feeling of enmity against the deceased to such an extent as was likely to lead his murdering the deceased. Thus, though a suspicion against the Applicant does exist, this circumstance will have only a limited value particularly because, as aforesaid, some of the statements recorded during investigation do not indicate the relationship between the Applicant and deceased to be of such a nature that the deceased perceived any danger to himself from the Applicant. BA-746-11.sxw 3 Dixit 6. The other circumstance is of the recovery of the weapon of assault at the instance of the Applicant. The Applicant was apprehended on 5th December, 2010. The weapon of assault is said to have been recovered on 10th December, 2010 at his instance from some bushes. 7. So far as the co-accused is concerned, a weapon is said to have been recovered at his instance also. But, the Sessions Court granted him bail because the circumstance of enmity was not apparently available against that accused. 8. Mr. Mohite, the learned Advocate for the Applicant, has contended by referring to the statement of one Avinash Kini, another brother of the deceased, that the said brother claims to have seen the Applicant as well as the deceased at about the same time on the spot where the deceased was later on found injured. According to him, after the said Avinash Kini had seen the Applicant and also the deceased at that place and had spoken to the Applicant as to what he was doing there, it was quite unlikely that the Applicant would make an attempt to assault the deceased at that very place. At this stage, I do not wish to go into the aspect of likelihood of the Applicant having assaulted the deceased at the very place where he was seen by a witness. 9. In any case, except the recovery of the weapon of assault, there is no other material against the Applicant. He is in custody since 5th December, 2010. Under the circumstances, though it cannot be said that the prima facie case does not exist, it would be appropriate to release the Applicant on bail, subject to certain conditions. BA-746-11.sxw 4 Dixit 10. The Bail Application is allowed. 11. The Applicant is ordered to be released on bail in the sum of Rs.50,000/-, with one surety in like amount, on the condition that he shall report to the concerned Police Station on every Sunday, between 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., till the disposal of the case against him. [A.M. THIPSAY, J.]