Bombay High Court
Chetan Prakash Rathod vs The State Of Mah. Thr. Pso Ps ... on 4 August, 2021
Bench: V.M. Deshpande, Amit B. Borkar
1 Cri.Appeal No.253.21-J.odt
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,
NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 253 OF 2021
Chetan Prakash Rathod,
Aged 23 years, Occu. : Labour,
R/o. Behind Government Godown, Khadan,
Tq. & Dist. : Akola. .....APPELLANT
. . . VERSUS . . .
1. The State of Maharashtra
Through Police Station Officer,
Police Station Khadan,
Tq. & Dist. Akola.
2. Shankar Kishan Ghode,
Aged 53 years, Occu.: Labour,
R/o. Behind Akhre Shop, Sindhi Camp,
Khadan, Akola, Tq. and Dist. : Akola. .....RESPONDENTS.
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Shri V. R. Deshpande, Advocate for Appellant.
Shri V. A. Thakare, A.P.P. for Respondent No.1/State.
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CORAM : V. M. DESHPANDE AND
AMIT B. BORKAR, JJ.
DATE : 04.08.2021.
ORAL JUDGMENT : (PER V. M. DESHPANDE, J.)
1. ADMIT.
2. Taken up for final hearing forthwith.
3. Heard Shri V. R. Deshpande, learned counsel for the
appellant and Shri V. A. Thakare, learned Additional Public
Prosecutor for the respondent No.1/State.
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4. The respondent No.2 is duly served, but chose not to
appear before this Court.
5. The cause for filing the present appeal under Section
14-A of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is the rejection of the
application filed on behalf of the appellant under Section 439 of
the Code of Criminal Procedure below Exh.4 in the Special SCST
Case No.61/2021.
6. The investigation is already over and the charge-sheet
is filed. The appellant is the accused No.2. According to the
prosecution case, Police Head Constable - Arun Laxman Metkar,
while discharging duty as a Night Officer, received an information
about lying of one person near Nehru Park Square. When he
reached the said spot, he noticed that one person lying on the spot
in a dead condition. His face was defaced. However, there was a
tattoo on his hand depicting his name as Shyam Ghode. Similarly,
on search of that person, a cell phone was found and therefore,
the said Police Officer gave a phone call which was picked up by
the sister of the deceased.
7. The father of the deceased identified the dead body as
of his son.
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3 Cri.Appeal No.253.21-J.odt
8. The deceased father - Shankar Ghode lodged the
report on 07.03.2021 against unknown person.
9. According to the prosecution case, during
investigation, the Investigating Officer called dog squad and dog
reached the co-accused Sumit Sharma. He was arrested.
According to the prosecution case, during interrogation of the said
Sumit, he disclosed the name of the present appellant as the
culprit. Accordingly, the appellant was arrested.
10. According to the prosecution case, the weapon is the
stone, which was found lying on the spot itself. The clothes of the
appellant were seized and, according to the prosecution case,
those were having blood stains.
11. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor submitted
that the appellant was lastly seen in the company of the deceased
and that has been stated by the father of the deceased and also the
aunt of the deceased. Except these two close relatives of the
deceased, nobody has pointed out to the Investigating Officer
about the presence of the appellant lastly in the company of the
deceased.
12. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor invited our
attention to the statement recorded during the course of the
investigation of one Ganesh Shankar Lahane, recorded on
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4 Cri.Appeal No.253.21-J.odt
10.03.2021. As per his statement, the appellant was his
employee. As per the statement, on 06.03.2021 in the morning,
the appellant attended the duty and left the working place at 3.00
p.m. by taking Rs.300/- which was per day wage of the appellant.
His statement shows that in between 1.30 to 2.00 a.m., there was
a knock on his door and the said prosecution witness states that,
the present appellant demanded Rs.1000/- as a loan from him. It
is also stated in the statement that at that time, he noticed that the
clothes of the appellant, were having blood stains.
13. Though this prosecution witness noticed the presence
of the appellant in his house having blood stained clothes on his
person, still he did not disclose the said fact till his statement was
recorded on 10.03.2021. Further, it is not the claim of this
prosecution witness Ganesh Lahane that the appellant had made
any extra judicial confession to him.
14. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor on query
submitted that the past record of the appellant is clean.
15. In the present matter, investigation is already over.
There are no eye witnesses. The entire case of the prosecution is
based on the circumstantial evidence. In that view of the matter,
we are of the view that the discretion can be exercised in favour of
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5 Cri.Appeal No.253.21-J.odt
the appellant, since near future there is a little possibility of taking
the case for trial. Hence, we pass the following order :
ORDER
i. Order passed by the learned Additional Sessions
Judge, Akola dated 22.06.2021 below Exh.4 in Special SCST Case
No.61/2021 is hereby quashed and set aside.
ii. Appellant - Chetan Prakash Rathod be released on
bail on his executing P. R. Bond of Rs.10,000/- with one solvent
surety in the like amount.
iii. The applicant is directed to attend the Police Station,
Khadan twice in a month i.e. on every second and fourth Friday, in
between 10.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m.
iv. The appellant shall not influence any of the
prosecution witnesses in any manner.
16. The Criminal Appeal is allowed and disposed of.
17. In view of disposal of the Criminal Appeal, pending
Criminal Application (APPA) No. 366/2021 does not survive and
the same stands disposed of accordingly.
JUDGE JUDGE
RGurnule
