Dismissed

Sangharaj Bhogappa Kamble v. the State of Maharashtra

Bombay HC10 Feb 2005APEAL/384/1989

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

In a criminal appeal challenging a life imprisonment sentence for murder, the High Court examined ocular, medical, and circumstantial evidence. The Court upheld the conviction, finding clear intention to kill due to vital stab injuries, and dismissed the appeal.

What did the court decide?

The appeal is dismissed. The appellant's bail bond stands cancelled, and he must surrender to the Sessions Court to undergo his sentence.

Sangharaj Bhogappa Kamble Vs the State of… — Murder and Culpable Homicide | Bombay HC (2005)

¶1

 - 1 -

¶2

 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
 APPELLATE JURISDICTION
 CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.384 OF 1989

¶3

 Sangharaj Bhogappa Kamble, )
 aged 24 years, Occupation - Service, )
 residing at Survey No.12, )
 Laxmi Nagar, Yerwada, )
 Pune - 6. ).. Appellant
 (Org.Accused)
 Vs.

¶4

 The State of Maharashtra, )
 (Copy to be served on the Govt. )
 Pleader, High Court, Bombay. ).. Respondent

¶5

--

¶6

 Shri M.R.Katikar for the Appellant.

¶7

 Shri K.V.Saste, APP for the Respondent.
 --

¶8

 CORAM : R.M.S.KHANDEPARKAR &
 P.V.KAKADE, JJ.

¶9

 DATED : 10th February, 2005.

¶10

ORAL JUDGMENT : ( Per P.V.Kakade, J )

¶11

 1. The appellant has preferred this appeal

¶12

 against the judgment and order passed by the learned
 Additional Sessions Judge, Pune, dated 8th May, 1989
 whereby he found that the appellant is guilty of the
 offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian
 Penal Code and therefore sentenced him to suffer

¶13

 - 2 -

¶14

 imprisonment for life.

¶15

 2. The facts giving rise to the case, in a
 nutshell, are thus :

¶16

 . The complainant-Amarsing Nihalsing Pardeshi,
 P.W.4, is a retired P.M.T. employee, resident of
 Laxminagar, Yerwada, Pune, along with his wife,
 daughter Leena, Son-in-law Prafulla and son of the
 deceased, who was working as Electrician in a Garage
 at Camp area of the Pune City. His duty hours were
 from 8.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. The appellant-accused as
 well as the deceased were the neighbours and were
 friends of each other for long time.

¶17

 . On 5th November, 1988, the deceased, as usual,
 had gone on duty at about 8.30 a.m. and returned at
 about 7.30 p.m. and took his dinner with his family
 members. When he was chit-chatting with his family
 members at about 9.30 p.m. to 10.00 p.m., the accused
 came to the house of the deceased and asked him to
 join him in drinking liquor. However, the deceased
 said that he had already taken dinner and therefore
 refused to take liquor. The accused was accompanied
 by one of his friends. The accused insisted that the
 deceased should go with the accused. The deceased

¶18

 - 3 -

¶19

 agreed to the same and went out of his house and
 thereafter the accused, his friend and the deceased
 sat on the Ota of the complainant’s house. The
 accused and his friend then consumed liquor. After
 some time, the accused started talking in incoherent
 manner. At that time, father of the accused came on
 the scene and after seeing that the accused, his
 friend and the deceased were consuming the liquor, he
 got angry and asked the accused to leave the place and
 stop drinking. On that account, there was exchange of
 words between the accused and his father. As a
 result, the accused slapped his father in presence of
 the others. The father of the accused also slapped
 the accused. At that time, the deceased intervened
 and asked the accused why he was abusing his father
 and further why he had given a slap to his father.
 The accused, therefore, questioned the deceased as to
 why he was intervening in the quarrel between the son
 and the father. At that time, father of the deceased
 tried to intervene but he was also pushed aside and he
 fell down on the ground. The accused then took out a
 knife from his pocket and stabbed the deceased Sunder
 causing him bleeding injury. While the quarrel was
 going on, sister of the deceased, Leena (P.W.5) also
 came on the scene and saw her brother was assaulted by
 the accused. As a result of sudden blow on the vital

¶20

 - 4 -

¶21

 part of the body with a knife, the deceased collapsed
 on the ground and commotion was raised by the witness
 Leena, who saw the incident, and as a result thereof,
 several other persons including the relatives of the
 deceased as well as neighbours came on the scene. The
 accused and his friend went away from the spot
 abandoning the knife at the spot. The complainant,
 father of the deceased, immediately brought chaddar
 from the house and wrapped over the deceased and
 thereafter, rickshaw was called and the deceased was
 taken to the hospital. The complainant, father of the
 deceased, then went to the police chowky to lodge
 complaint against the accused. The PSI Patel, who was
 at the police chowky, was questioning the complainant
 at which time, he received telephonic message from
 Sassoon hospital that the deceased had died before
 getting any medical aid. Consequently, the
 complainant’s FIR was recorded and the offence under
 Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code was registered
 against the accused person at Crime No.331 of 1988 at
 the police station.

¶22

 3. On registering the offence, the investigating
 machinery swung into action in which the investigation
 officer visited the spot and made panchanama thereof
 in presence of Panchas. In the course of panchanama,

¶23

 - 5 -

¶24

 several articles were seized which were, in due
 course, sent to the Chemical Analyser for examination
 and whose report is being on record. The articles
 were seized with blood stains of the deceased Sunder.
 The search was made for the accused person and finally
 he was subjected in the house of one Mahadev Appa
 Koli, relative of the accused and immediately he was
 apprehended and brought to the police chowky and
 arrested him under panchanama Exhibit-26. In the
 meanwhile, inquest panchanama was made and the body
 was sent for post-mortem. The post-mortem report was
 received in due course and the same is a part of
 record. The blood stained knife, Article-A, was found
 lying at the spot which was also seized by the
 investigation officer and was sent to the Chemical
 Analyser for examination. On the arrest of the
 accused, his blood stained clothes were also seized
 under the panchanama. It is the case of the
 prosecution that the accused person had hidden his
 other blood stained clothes and those were attached at
 the instance of the police when the accused had taken
 the police to the said spot. Memorandum was made
 according on the facts discovered in the process. The
 statements of several witnesses were recorded. On
 receiving the Chemical Analyser’s report and
 completion of the investigation, charge-sheet was sent

¶25

 - 6 -

¶26

 to the Court of law.

¶27

 . The learned Magistrate committed the case to
 the Sessions Court, Pune, as the case was exclusively
 triable by the Sessions Court, Pune. The learned
 Additional Sessions Judge, Pune, framed the charge
 against the accused for commission of the offence of
 murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
 The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge. The
 defence of the accused is that of total denial of
 criminal liability. It was suggested on behalf of the
 accused that he has been falsely implicated in the
 case and the deceased got injured either due to broken
 pieces of glass lying at the spot or due to goring up
 by buffaloes. The learned trial Judge proceeded to
 record investigation of the prosecution and on the
 basis of that, he held that the evidence is sufficient
 to bring home the guilt of the accused and discarded
 the defence theory, as noted above. Consequently, the
 order of conviction and sentence came to be recorded
 against the accused. Hence the appeal.

¶28

 4. We have heard the learned counsel for the
 appellant as well as the learned APP at length. We
 have perused the entire evidence on record.

¶29

 - 7 -

¶30

 5. It must be noted initially that it is the case
 balanced on the direct evidence led by the
 prosecution, and therefore, it would be proper on our
 part to take into account the ocular evidence on
 record.

¶31

 . P.W.4 -Amarsing Nihalsing Pardeshi, father of
 the deceased, who is also the complainant, has stated
 that on 5th November, 1988, his son Sundar had taken
 dinner after returning from his duties and was talking
 with family members at which time, the accused along
 with his one friend came there at about 9.30 to 10.00
 p.m. and asked the deceased to join him in drinking
 liquor. The deceased declined saying that he had
 taken dinner, but finally the deceased agreed to
 accompany the accused and his friend and sat on the
 Ota of the house where the accused and his friend had
 started consuming liquor. After some time, the
 accused started talking in incoherent manner. As a
 result of which, father of the accused arrived at the
 scene, quarrelled with his son-the accused, during
 which course, father of the accused slapped the
 accused and the accused returned the slap to his
 father, at which time, the deceased intervened and
 asked the accused as to why he is abusing and
 assaulting his father. However, the accused got

¶32

 - 8 -

¶33

 enraged and asked the deceased to keep himself out
 from their quarrel. At that time, the complainant,
 father of the deceased, also tried to intervene in the
 scuffle. However, the accused pushed father of the
 deceased, as a result, he fell down and the accused
 thereafter took out the knife from his pocket and
 stabbed his son Sunder, as a result, Sunder fell to
 the ground in bleeding condition. The witness Leena
 (P.W.5), complainant’s daughter, rushed to that place
 and caught the deceased while he was falling down.
 His son-in-law as well as other relatives and the
 neighbours came on the scene and the accused and his
 friend abandoned the weapon of the offence and rushed
 away. The deceased was thereafter immediately taken
 to the Sasoon Hospital in a rickshaw where he
 succumbed to his injuries.

¶34

 . Now the said version given by the complainant
 Amarsing is totally corroborated by the P.W.5 Leena,
 complainant’s daughter and sister of the deceased.
 She has stated that when her father approached them to
 separate and intervene the accused, he was pushed away
 by the accused and as a result of which, he fell to
 the ground. She went there to rescue her father, at
 which time, the accused took out the knife from the
 pocket of his trouser and stabbed on the stomach of

¶35

 - 9 -

¶36

 her brother, as a result, her brother fell down.

¶37

 . It is therefore quite evident that both these
 eye witnesses have given accurate account of the
 assault committed by the accused person, which is
 again corroborated by the version given by the
 complainant in the FIR Exhibit 20, which was recorded
 immediately after the incident at the police chowky by
 P.W.10 - P.S.I. Hazrat Pasha Patel. This aspect
 eliminates all the possibilities of false involvement
 of the accused person in this case. Moreover, there
 is absolutely no reason as to why the complainant as
 well as Leena, P.W.5, should falsely implicate the
 accused person in this case, in the manner, as
 suggested on behalf of the appellant. In other words,
 after going through the entire testimony of both the
 eye witnesses, coupled with the entire circumstantial
 evidence on record, we are of the view that the
 evidence of the eye witnesses is sufficient to inspire
 confidence and there is no doubt whatsoever regarding
 its truthfulness, and therefore, we are inclined to
 accept it in toto.

¶38

 6. The ocular evidence is further corroborated by
 the medical evidence on record and the testimony of
 Dr.Sudhir Nanadkar, who has conducted the post-mortem

¶39

 - 10 -

¶40

 examination, shows that the deceased suffered

¶41

 following injuries.

¶42

 "Inj.1. Oblique spindle shaped stab wound
 seen over right lower anterior chest
 wall, gapping present, red 20 cms.
 below middle of right claricle and 7
 cms. lateral right of midline and 4
 cms. above related part of right
 costal margin in 6th inter-costal
 space measuring 2 x 0.5 cms depth,
 approx. 15 cms. direction
 medially, slightly backwards and
 upwards. On dissection related soft
 tissues and muscles, of inter costal
 space out with blood vessels leading
 to stab injuries of diaphragm
 beneath wound and again at heart
 percordium (antero Rt.lateral and
 interior part).

¶43

 2 stab injuries to diaphragm, one in
 relation to external wound and other
 in relation to heart passing through
 abdominal cavity, left
 intero-lateral part of pericordium
 shows stab injury/ with stab injury
 of heart, right ventrical approx.
 1.4 x 5 cm. entering right
 ventricle.

¶44

 The same stab wound associated with
 about 150 cc.haemo pericordium
 (blood clotted with liquid) and
 about 700 ccm haemo peritoneum as
 wound is continuous in peritoneal
 and pericardial cavities. The right
 infro-lateral half wound contained
 in semicircular abraded contusion
 about 3.2 x 1 cm. dark red,
 convexity, facing medial
 (impression).

¶45

 Inj.2. Obliquely irregular abrasion seen
 over left scapular region of back
 about 4.2 x 1.3 cms.dark red.

¶46

 All these injuries were antemortem,

¶47

 - 11 -

¶48

 and of recent origine."

¶49

 7. This aspect clearly shows that there were
 three injuries on the person of the deceased. He has
 further stated that, in his opinion, the cause of
 death was due to the injuries, and Injury No.1 was, in
 the ordinary course, sufficient to cause death.

¶50

 . The medical evidence is again supported by the
 circumstantial evidence regarding the attachment of
 blood stained clothes of the accused person, at his
 own instance, when he accompanied the police to show
 the place where he kept his blood stained clothes,
 which were seized by the police under the panchanama.
 The Chemical Analyser’s report on record shows that
 the blood stains on the clothes of the deceased as
 well as the accused person were that of human blood,
 though the blood group of the deceased could not be
 ascertained positively. However, the fact remains
 that the clothes of the accused person were smeared
 with human blood and such clothes were found hidden by
 him immediately after the incidence before his arrest
 on that very day. Therefore, this evidence along with
 the other circumstances proved by the evidence of the
 investigation officer leaves no doubt whatsoever that
 the authorship of the crime has to be attributed to
 the accused person and none other.

¶51

 - 12 -

¶52

 8. The learned counsel for the appellant
 vehemently urged that the entire fact situation
 involved in this case would be sufficient to show that
 there was no intention to kill the deceased and
 therefore, he should be given benefit of the said
 position, in the sense that the offence should be at
 the most held to be under Section 304 (I) or (II) of
 the Indian Penal Code. We have given our anxious
 consideration to this submission. However, the
 medical evidence on record coupled with the ocular
 evidence is sufficient to show the intention of the
 accused person. It is not the case of a single stab
 injury inflicted on a person of the deceased in heat
 of the moment during quarrel situation between the

¶53

 parties. The medical evidence is sufficient to show

¶54

 that the first injury was on the vital part, like
 heart, which was sufficient on its own to cause death
 in ordinary course of its nature. Besides, there were
 two injuries, one in relation to the external wound
 and other in relation to heart passing through
 abdominal cavity. This aspect would show the
 ferocious assault on the deceased and therefore, it
 should rule out any possibility of leniency to the
 accused person. In other words, there was, no doubt,
 an intention of the accused to kill the deceased at

¶55

 - 13 -

¶56

 the relevant time.

¶57

 9. The learned counsel for the appellant has

¶58

 sought to take various grounds in defence of the
 appellant. For instance, it was suggested that there
 was absolutely no light available at the time of the
 incidence at the spot and, therefore, ocular
 testimonies of both the witnesses should be discarded,
 however, no suggestion was putforth to that effect by
 the defence in the course of trial during
 cross-examination. On the other hand, the evidence of
 spot panchanama as well as of the witness Khaire,
 P.W.8, Maintenance Surveyor from C.T.S.Office, Pune,
 would definitely show that there was light and it was
 was indeed available at the relevant time. Evidently,
 the incident had taken place at 10.00 to 10.30 p.m.
 in the night and the spot of offence is located in the
 heart of the town. It is inconceivable that there was
 total darkness so as to render identification
 impossible. This is especially so when both the
 families knew each other and infact the presence of
 the accused was not only established by the entire
 evidence on record but was infact putforth through the
 cross-examination of the witnesses, therefore, the
 submission that there was no light at all at the spot
 of offence to witness the incidence by the witnesses,

¶59

 - 14 -

¶60

 is devoid of any merit and cannot be accepted even for
 a moment.

¶61

 . The learned counsel for the appellant also
 sought to submit that the deceased must have suffered
 injuries due to pieces of broken glass or even due to
 goring by buffaloes. However, there is absolutely no
 foundation made out to putforth this suggestion.
 Firstly, there were no broken pieces of glass found at
 the spot of incidence, as can be seen from the
 panchanama. Moreover, the bottle which was found at
 the spot was intact and was not broken at all.
 Similarly, there is no circumstantial evidence to show
 that any buffalo was wondering at the spot of offence
 at any moment, and therefore, this suggestion would
 require no further elaboration, and therefore, the
 same cannot be considered for a moment.

¶62

 10. It was also suggested on behalf of the
 appellant that the prosecution did not examine the
 mysterious friend who was with the accused person at
 the relevant time and place. The evidence of the
 investigation officer also does not throw any light on
 the position whether any effort was made to trace out
 the said person or not. However, mere absence of
 identification of such person would be of no help to

¶63

 - 15 -

¶64

 the defence especially when no overtact has been
 attributed to that person and therefore, lack of his
 identification is of no help to save the accused
 person in any manner whatsoever.

¶65

 11. For the reasons recorded above, we are

¶66

 satisfied that the authorship of the crime involved in
 this case can squarely be attributed to the accused
 person and none else and the evidence led by the
 prosecution is sufficient to bring home the guilt of
 the accused person, and hence, we dismiss the appeal.

¶67

 . The appellant is on bail. His bail bond
 stands cancelled. The appellant shall surrender to
 the Sessions Court, Pune, within eight weeks from

¶68

 today to undergo his sentence.

¶69

 (R.M.S.KHANDEPARKAR, J )

¶70

 (P.V.KAKADE, J )

Sangharaj Bhogappa Kamble v. the State of Maharashtra

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Sangharaj Bhogappa Kamble v. the State of Maharashtra

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

Issues for consideration

Statutes considered

Parties & counsel

Coram

Case details

Similar cases

Ankit Rajendra Agarwal Vs the State of Maharashtra and Anr.

Rajeshkumar Upadhyay Virendra Narayan Upadhyay Vs the State of Maharashtra and Ors.

Parasmal Uttamchand Jain Vs the State of Maharashtra and Ors.

Ramesh Singh Vs the State of Maharashtra

Prabhakar Tulshiram Patil Vs Subhash Kuber and Ors.

Bharat Bhanudas Lale and Ors. Vs Surekha Pradeep Lale and Ors.