1 cr-appa-121-11 jdk IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRI. APPLICATION NO. 121 OF 2011 IN CRI. APPEAL NO. 307 OF 2010 Raju Ram Naik ..Applicant Vs. The State of Maharashtra ..Respondent .... Mrs. Sarojini Upadhyay Advocate appointed for applicant Mrs. M.H.Mhatre A.P.P. for Respondent-State .... CORAM : P.V.HARDAS AND M.N.GILANI, JJ. DATED : MARCH 29, 2011 PER COURT: 1 This is an application by which the applicant seeks suspension of substantive sentence of imprisonment and his enlargement on bail pending decision of the appeal. The appellant has been convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code on the allegations that the appellant had committed murder of his wife on 1st January, 2008. Dead body of the deceased was recovered on 3rd January, 2008 in the house which was occupied both by the appellant and his deceased wife. 2 cr-appa-121-11 2 The trial Court upon scrutinizing the evidence of the prosecution has sculled out the following circumstances: 1. motive; 2. deceased was last seen in the company of the accused; 3. conduct of the accused; 4. abscondence of the accused; 5. recovery of key of the house at the behest of the appellant; and 6. the medical evidence which points out that the death of deceased was not a natural death but a homicidal death. 3 The trial Court at paragraph 12 has concluded that the prosecution has established the motive. The trial Court also concluded that the circumstance that the deceased was last seen alive in the company of the accused, has been established. The conduct of the accused in locking the house and taking to his heels and ultimately on his arrest discovering the key of the house are circumstances which the trial Court found to be against the accused. Since the death of deceased was not natural but the deceased had died on account of strangulation, the failure of the accused to offer any probable explanation in respect of death of deceased is an additional circumstance. The trial Court upon appreciating the circumstances came to the conclusion that the 3 cr-appa-121-11 prosecution had proved the offence against the accused beyond reasonable doubt and the circumstances so proved formed a chain which excluded every hypothesis of the innocence of the accused and unerringly pointed out to the guilt of the accused. 4 We have heard the learned Counsel for the applicant and the learned A.P.P. for the State. The learned Counsel for the applicant has urged before us that upon appreciation of the evidence of the witnesses, none of the circumstances excepting the circumstance of death of deceased are established. According to us, the aforesaid submission pertains to re-appreciation of evidence which cannot be done at this stage. Suffice it to state that the trial Court has come to the conclusion that there is evidence justifying the conclusion of the guilt drawn against the accused. Prima facie we do not find any case being made out for suspending the substantive sentence and enlarging the appellant on bail. In that light of the matter, application is dismissed. [ M.N.GILANI, J. ] [ P.V.HARDAS, J. ]