Case: Deepak Chandrakant Patil Vs. State of Maharashtra

2. The facts of the case are that on 28.12.1998 accused Arun Marathe, hereinafter referred to as, had gone to see off his daughter at the Parbhani railway station since she was to go on a school trip organized by her school. The appellant herein, namely, Deepak Chandrakant Patil, hereinafter referred to as, was also present at the railway station. The son of the deceased was also a member of the group which was going on a school trip to different places. It appears thatA1took objection to the fact that no school teacher was accompanying the students. He insisted that school trip should be cancelled as no teacher was asked to accompany the students. It appears that the deceased took exception to the conduct ofA1and an altercation followed. In that process,A1threatened the deceased with serious consequences. Nothing else happened on that day. On the following day i.e. on 29.12.1998, the wife of the deceased namely Surekha Sawargaonkar P.W.15 received a telephone call at about 4 P.M. and the caller identified himself as Deepak Patil,2 appellant herein. It is the case of the prosecution that the appellant went to the school to find out the address of the deceased and thereafter made a call at about 4 P.M. There is some controversy as to whether P.W. 8 went to the school on 28.12.1998 or 29.12.1998. That, however, is not very material because there is direct evidence to prove that on 29.12.1998 the appellant went to the house of the deceased at 10.00 P.M. and asked him to accompany him since he was called byA1who want to talk to him. This was objected to by the wife of the deceased P.W. 15 saying that ifA1wanted to talk to the deceased he should come to his residence. However, the deceased was persuaded to accompany2 to the house ofA1and they both left for the house ofA1on the motorcycle of the deceased. The case of the prosecution is that an auto rickshaw with three persons sitting in it followed them. These three occupants of the auto rickshaw were later identified as accused nos. 3 to 53. When the deceased did not return home till 11 P.M., the wife of the deceased PW 15 along with her son PW 13 and one other person Narayan Gore PW6 went to the house ofA1to inquire about the deceased. At about 12 midnight when they reached the house ofA1they met a person who feigned about the whereabouts of the deceased. In the mean time,A1came out and when questioned,A1gave an evasive reply about the whereabouts of the deceased. P.W. 15, the wife of the deceased, toldA1that he would have to suffer serious consequences if he did not disclose the whereabouts of the deceased, to whichA1commented that what more harm was left to be done. After waiting till about 2.30 A.M., when the deceased did not return, PW15 went to the Police Station and gave an oral report to the effect that the deceased had gone with, the appellant herein, and had not returned. After the oral report was lodged, two Constables of the Police Station went in search of the deceased. At about 3 A.M. they reached the house ofA1and saw that he was talking to the appellant and one other person, apart from the wife of accused no.1. One of the Constables PW12 as also PWs 1513 inquiredA1as to where the deceased was. The appellant who was present there stated that he had a quarrel with the deceased and his body was lying in an unconscious state in the garden behind the house of. He accompanied PWs 12, 13 and 15 and others and showed them the place where the body of the deceased was lying. It was found that the deceased was dead. Thereafter, PW 15 went to the Police Station and lodged a First Information Report4. The police started investigation and in due course took accused into custody5. It is the case of the prosecution that3 to5 made disclosure statements and got recovered blood clothes. The appellant also made a disclosure statement on 4.1.1999 and got recovered blood stained clothes and a Jambia (the weapon of offence)6. Four persons were examined as eye witnesses in the course of investigation but three of them, who were examined at the trial as eye witnesses, turned hostile. They are PWs 9, 1014. They did not support the version disclosed by them in the course of investigation that they had seen the appellant as well as3 to5 assaulting the deceased near the place where his dead body was found7. The Trial Court on consideration of the evidence on record acquittedA1as it found no material to prove his complicity. So far as3 to5 are concerned, the Trial Court did not place reliance on the identification parade which was held after much delay. The blood stained clothes were found to be having stains of human blood of A Group, which was also the blood group of the deceased. The Trial Court did not accept that evidence since no evidence was led as to the blood group of the accused. The recoveries made at the instance of the accused were also disbelieved because the, who witnessed those recoveries, happened to be brother of the PW15 who had been called from far away only to witness the recoveries. No independent witness was examined to prove the recoveries. The Trial Court also suspected the prosecution to be guilty of interpolation in the panchnamas8. In the absence of direct evidence, since the eye witnesses turned hostile, the Trial Court considered the circumstances as they appeared on record which were of incriminating nature and involved the appellant in the commission of the offence. The others were given the benefit of doubt. The circumstances taken note of by the Trial Court are the following:1) An incident took place on the 28th of December, 1998 in which the deceased was involved in an altercation with2 was also present at the railway station when the incident took place2) The appellant visited the school to inquire about the address of the deceased3) The appellant visited the house of the accused on 19.12.1998 at about 10 P.M. and asked him to accompany him to the house ofA1who wanted to talk to him. The deceased accompanied the appellant and was last seen by his wife and son PWs 154) The appellant made a statement in the presence of Police Constables as also PWs 1315 to the effect that he had a fight with the deceased and that he could point out the place where his body was lying. He pointed out the place from where the dead body was recovered5) Blood stained weapon was discovered pursuant to the disclosure statement made by the appellant6) Blood stained clothes having human blood of Group A were recovered following the disclosure statement of the accused7) The accused were identified by PWs 13 and 15 in the test identification parade9. For the reasons which we have noticed earlier the last three circumstances were discarded by the Trial Court. However, the Trial Court was satisfied that the appellant was present at the railway station where the incident took place on the earlier date and there was an altercation between the deceased and. So far as his (appellants) going to the school on the 29th December, 1998 is concerned, the school teacher. PW8, who was examined to prove this fact, was declared hostile since PW8 stated in the course of his deposition that the Appellant had come to the school on 29th and inquired about another school trip which was being arranged. He, therefore, did not support his earlier version stated in the course of investigation that the appellant had visited the school to find out the address of the deceased. As to the alleged telephone call made by the appellant to PW 15 on 29.12.1998, there appears some discrepancy as to whether the call was made on 28th or 29th December. The Trial Court as well as the High Court have believed the evidence of PWs 1513, the wife and son of the deceased, who had testified to the fact that the appellant had come to the house at about 10 PM on 29.12.1998 and had persuaded the deceased to accompany him to the house of. These witnesses also fully supported the prosecution case about the presence of the appellant in the house ofA1at about 3 AM on 30.12.1998. He had told them that he had a quarrel with the deceased and he knew the place where his body was lying. The appellant had also pointed out that place and the body of the deceased was found there. On these findings, the Trial Court while acquitting the remaining accused, found the appellant guilty of the offence punishable under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code10. An appeal was preferred by the State against the order of acquittal passed in favour of the remaining accused. The appellant also preferred an appeal against his conviction and sentence. The High Court by its impugned judgment and order affirmed the order of acquittal passed in favour of the remaining accused holding that the view taken by the Trial Court could not be said to be either unreasonable or perverse and in any event did not call for any interference in the appeal against acquittal. So far as appellant is concerned, his conviction has been upheld by the High Court.

Court's reasoning:
It is not possible to sustain this submission because the evidence as against the appellant herein is different from the evidence as against other accused. There is no direct evidence as to who assaulted the deceased. Therefore, the evidence of the alleged eye witnesses who turned hostile was of no help to the prosecution. The identification of2 to5 who were said to be travelling in the auto rickshaw which followed the appellant and the deceased, was not found to be reliable, and the evidence as regards recoveries was also found to be not reliableIn this case, the circumstance that the deceased was last seen by PWs 1513 in the company of the appellant, is a circumstance which considered with other evidence on record has been found to prove the guilt of the accused. It is not as if the prosecution has tried to set up a case other than what was sought to be proved by the eye witnesses examined in the case who turned hostile. Since the eye witnesses turned hostile, the circumstance that the appellant had accompanied the deceased and was last seen by him was only treated as one of the circumstances in the chain of circumstances to prove his guilt15. In the instant case, we are satisfied that the Trial Court and the High Court rightly appreciated the evidence on record and the circumstances proved against the appellant conclusively prove his guilt. Mere fact that there is no evidence to show that he actually assaulted the deceased may not be of any consequence in the facts and circumstances of this case. We may only observe that in the face of the reliable evidence on record that the deceased had accompanied him at 10.30 P.M. on 29.12.1998, thet did not offer any explanation as to whether they parted company thereafter. The fact that he knew about the dead body of the deceased lying in the garden behind the house ofA1is almost clinching in nature and leaves nothing to doubt.