Rajendra Prabhu Chikane & Another Etc vs State Of Maharashtra Etc

4. The Additional Sessions Judge, Solapur in Sessions Case No. 250/1999 had acquitted accused No. 2 and 3 of the offence under Section 302/34 IPC, but had convicted accused No. 1 Sharad Chikane under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to life imprisonment as well as fine.

5. Against the said judgment of the trial court, accused No. 1 Sharad Chikane, filed an appeal in the High Court which was dismissed, whereas, the appeal filed by the State of Maharashtra against acquittal of accused No. 2 and 3, was allowed and both the accused were convicted under Section 302/34 IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment along with fine.

6. The prosecution case was that the deceased Sukhdeo Chikane was the Sarpanch of village Gulpoli, Taluka Barshi, Dist. Solapur since 1990. He was a resident of village Gulpoli. The complainant (PW1) Vikram Chikane who is an eye witness was a cousin brother of the deceased Sukhdeo. Dipak Chikane (PW2) was the real brother of the complainant Vikram and thus another cousin brother of the deceased Sukhdeo. Avinash Chikane (PW3) who is the second eye witness was a close relative of PW1 Vikram and PW2 Dipak. Anil Mali (PW4) was a person who was from the Shivsena group in the village, of which group the deceased Sukhdeo was the leader.

7. The father of deceased Sukhdeo was Bhaskar. An agricultural land of Bhaskar was situated next to the land of one Kisan Sawant who was his son- in-law. In respect of the said land there was a boundary dispute between the family members of Bhaskar Chikane and Kisan Sawant. Another son of Bhaskar named Shirish had filed Regular Civil Suit No.204/93 against Kisan Sawant and one another seeking an injunction. The said suit had been filed on 30.4.1993. On 26.12.1996 the TILR had effected measurement in respect of the disputed areas which were the subject matter of the suit. The prosecution case was that in view of such disputes, there was bad blood and enmity between the deceased Sukhdeo on the one hand and the family members of Bhaskar including his sons. The record indicates that on 13.10.1997, deceased Sukhdeo had also filed a criminal case being Criminal case No.6253/97 in the Court of JMFC Barshi. The said case was filed against accused No.1 Sharad, accused No.3 Shashikant and one of their brother Dhananjay alleging commission of an offence under Sections 323, 504 & 34 of the IPC. The evidence indicates that such legal proceedings were pending in the Court when the incident, which is the subject matter of the present case, took place on 16.9.1999. On 16.9.1999, at about 9.30 A.M. deceased Sukhdeo alongwith (PW1) Vikram, (PW3) Avinash, (PW4) Anil Mali, Brahmadev Chikane, Babruvan Machale, Sopan Machale, Shridhar Machale, Nagnath Machale, Laxman Shinde and Gautam Chikane started from village Gulpoli in a jeep. They were proceeding to the Sub-Registrar office at village Vairag in order to execute a Sale deed by which one of them i.e. Brahmdeo Chikane was to purchase the land of one Sopan Machale, which land was situated at village Gulpoli. The jeep carrying the persons as aforesaid reached the Vairag Sub-Registrar's office at about 12.00 noon. A Stamp vendor/Bond writer by name Kale scribed the sale deed and thereafter the sale deed was executed in the Sub-Registrar's office. After the execution of the sale deed at about 1.30 P.M., the aforesaid persons came out of the Sub-Registrar's office and reached upto their jeep which was standing on the road adjoining the office. At that time accused No.1 Sharad Chikane, accused No.2 Rajendra Chikane and accused No.3 Shashikant @ Sheshrao Chikane came running towards them from the eastern side. Accused No.3 threw chilli powder in the eyes of deceased Sukhdeo, and then accused No.1 gave a blow on the head of the deceased Sukhdeo with a Sattur which he was carrying with him. On receiving this blow Sukhdeo collapsed on the ground. All the three accused Sharad, Shashikant and Rajendra then inflicted blows with Satturs which they were carrying on the head of the deceased. Sukhdeo received several injuries on his head and his brain matter came out of his skull. Thereafter all the accused persons ran away towards the east carrying their Satturs. PW1 Vikram Chikane who had witnessed the entire incident ran towards the direction of Vairag police station. He arrived at the police station in a frightened condition at about 1.45 P.M. and narrated the incident to the police. At 2.00 P.M. i.e. within half an hour of the occurrence of the incident, the police recorded the FIR (Exh.15) of PW1 Vikram. In his FIR Vikram named all the 3 accused and categorically stated that they had assaulted the deceased on his head with the koytas which they were carrying with them.

8. On the basis of the FIR (Exh.15), PW11 Police Sub-Inspector Rajkumar Kendre registered an offence under Section 307 read with 34 of the IPC and 135 of the Bombay Police Act against all the three accused named in the FIR. Even while he was recording his FIR he sent his staff members ahead to the spot of incident for taking the injured to the hospital. He himself followed and reached the spot of the incident a little later. On reaching the spot he found that a lot of blood could be seen on the spot. Two pieces of brain matter and a piece of a skull were also found on the spot. He saw a goggle, a pair of slippers, a steel glass and a Rs.10/- note on the spot. He prepared a spot panchanama (Exh.25) in the presence of panchwitness in respect of the seizure of the aforesaid articles as well as seizure of blood stained soil. Articles 1 to 9 produced before the Court were the articles which were seized under the said panchanama. Even before the arrival of PW11 PSI Rajkumar Kendre, the deceased Sukhdeo had been removed from the aforesaid scene of the offence by PW3 Avinash, PW4 Anil Mali and one Vilas Sawant. These three persons had put Sukhdeo in another private jeep and had rushed him towards the Solapur Civil Hospital. While they were proceeding towards the hospital they saw PW2 Dipak on the way near Naka No.3. The jeep was stopped and Dipak also boarded this jeep. By that time they reached village Nanaj, they found that the body of Sukhdeo had cooled. They however, proceeded to Solapur civil hospital where Sukhdeo was declared dead on admission. While carrying the body of Sukhdeo the clothes of PW3 Avinash Chikane and Vilas Sawant had got stained with blood. Articles 19 & 20 produced before the Court were the clothes of PW3 Avinash which subsequently came to be attached in the course of the investigation.

14. On 17.9.1999 accused No.1 Sharad disclosed that he had parked a two-wheeler Bajaj M-80 vehicle bearing No.MH-13-C-4157 on the rear side of the Girls' school at Vairale. The said vehicle was seized under a panchanama in the presence of two panchas, of which (PW2) Dipak was one of the panchas. It was the prosecution case that this vehicle had been used by the accused to flee from the scene of the offence. On 17.9.1999 PW3 Avinash and Vilas Sawant came to the police station and as their clothes were found to be blood stained, they were seized by PW11 PSI Kendre under a panchanama (Exh.26). On 17.9.1999 PSI Kendre recorded the statement of Dipak PW2. On 18.9.1999 PSI Kendre recorded the statements of several additional witnesses. Accused No.3 Shashikant was accosted by the police and was produced before him. PSI Kendre arrested accused No.3 and seized his blood stains clothes under a panchanama (Exh.28) in the presence of panchas, one amongst whom was PW 6 Rameshwar.

20. At the trial, the Sessions Judge framed charges against the accused for committing offences punishable under Section 302 read with 34 of IPC and under Section 37(i) read with section 135 of the Bombay Police Act. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. In order to prove their case the prosecution examined as many as 13 witnesses. On an application on behalf of the accused, Police head-constable Abdul Shaikh was called and examined as Court witness No.1. On behalf of the defence, two persons claiming to be eyewitnesses were examined. They were DW1 Shridhar and DW2 Tayyab Pathan. After recording the statements of all the three accused under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. and hearing the arguments of both the sides, the IInd Additional Sessions Judge, Solapur passed his Judgment and order, convicting accused No.1 Sharad and acquitting accused No.2 and accused No.3, as aforesaid.

Anatomical continuity is lost, deformity due to disruption of scalp and skull into multiple pieces present disrupted scalp tissue and fractured bony fragments embodied and driven inside the brain and cranial cavity. Damage is irregular and directed obliquely from lt fronto parietal region to the level of nose and orbits on centre and upto rt. ear on right side.

21. As already stated above, before the High Court accused No. 1 Sharad Chikane filed an appeal against his conviction, and the State Government filed an appeal against the acquittal of accused Nos. 2 and 3. The High Court found all the three accused guilty under Section 302/34 IPC and imposed life imprisonment on all three along with fine, as already mentioned above.

28. We see no reason to disbelieve the evidence of PW11, the Police Sub- Inspector. We also find the evidence of PW1 Vikram and PW3 Avinash as credible. The prosecution has thus proved the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

29. For the reasons aforementioned, there is no merit in these appeals which are dismissed accordingly. If the appellants are on bail, the bail bonds shall stand discharged and they should be taken into custody forthwith to serve out the sentence.