Sau. Sunanda W/O. Dnyaneshwar ... vs The State Of Maharashtra Thr. Its ...
2021 Latest Caselaw 725 Bom

                                                                                                                1
                                                                                                   cri.wp21.19.odt

                 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,
                           NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR.

                           CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO.21/2019

 Sau. Sunanda W/o Dnyaneshwar Deshmukh,
 aged 45 Yrs., Occ. Housewife, R/o House
 No.445, Ramji Ambedkar Nagar, Athwa Mail,
 Amravati Road, Nagpur.                                                                                  ..Petitioner.

            ..Vs..

 1.         The State of Maharashtra,
            through its Secretary, Department of
            Home, Mantralaya, Mumbai - 32.

 2.         The Police Commissioner, Nagpur.

 3.       The Police Station Incharge, Police
          Station, Wadi, Nagpur.                                              ..Respondents.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Shri M.P. Kariya, Advocate for the petitioner.
            Shri S.M. Ghodeswar, A.P.P. for the respondents / State.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



                                  CORAM :-              SUNIL B. SHUKRE AND
                                                        AVINASH G. GHAROTE, JJ.

DATED :- 13.1.2021.

ORAL JUDGMENT (Per Sunil B. Shukre, J.)

1. Heard Shri M.P. Kariya, learned Advocate for the petitioner and

Shri S.M. Ghodeswar, learned A.P.P. for the respondents - State.

2. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by

consent.

cri.wp21.19.odt

3. The petitioner is an unfortunate mother of a young boy Shyam,

aged about 17 years. When he died in October, 2018, he was residing

at Nagpur along with his mother and elder brother while his father

was away at Mumbai. In the evening of 12.10.2018, he left his house

and went somewhere else. As he did not return home at night, the

petitioner and her elder son got worried and started making search for

deceased Shyam. On 14.10.2018 dead body of Shyam was found

floating in the well at Mohade Layout, Dawlameti. Avadhutwadi

Police Station was informed that some dead body was recovered from

the well. It was identified by Vinayak Deshmukh, elder brother of

deceased. Police after registering an accidental death case, conducted

enquiry into the matter and because of advanced decomposition of the

dead body, postmortem examination could not lead to formation of

any final opinion regarding the death by the doctor who conducted

the postmortem examination.

4. According to the petitioner, such suspicious death of Shyam was

probably homicidal. She alleged that deceased had an affair with

Janhvi Masram and that there was one Aman Thakare, with whom the

deceased had quarreled earlier and because of which Aman Thakare

had threatened the deceased on his life. She expressed suspicion on

Krishna Pujari and Harish Bawankar, as these were the boys who

cri.wp21.19.odt

always used to accompany Shyam and who used to compel Shyam to

drink liquor.

5. Police meanwhile obtained the final report in respect of the

probable cause of death. According to this final report, the probable

cause of death was a possibility of drowning death, as per the

circumstances provided by the Investigating Officer. So, even in the

final report the opinion was based upon circumstantial evidence

provided to the concerned doctor by the Investigating Officer and not

merely the facts noticed in the postmortem examination conducted on

the dead body of the deceased.

6. Shri Kariya, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that

police are not making proper investigation in the case and the

petitioner suspects, now the Investigating Officer also is trying to

shield the real culprits in the case. This has been refuted by the

learned A.P.P.

7. The Investigating Officer filed two replies in this case. Reply

dated 15.3.2019 indicates that immediately after the A.D. Report was

filed, the Investigating Officer had recorded the statement of Vinayak

Deshmukh, elder brother of deceased, on 14.10.2018. At that time,

cri.wp21.19.odt

Vinayak did not express any suspicion over anybody and on the

contrary, he made statement in a manner as had shown to the

Investigating Officer that deceased Shyam had some psychological

problem, that he had an irritable and quarrelsome nature, that

sometimes he used to behave in a weird manner as on one occasion,

that he had left the house suddenly threatening the members of the

family that he would never return home and then after some time,

late in the night, the deceased had come back home. He has also

stated that the deceased, sometimes used to break the house utensils.

8. With such background of the deceased, the Investigating Officer

made a thorough enquiry into the allegations made by the petitioner.

Statements of Sandhya Ramvilas Masram, Janhvi Kailas Masram,

Aman Vijay Thakare, Durgesh Keshav Gajbhiye and Harish Tukaram

Bawankar were recorded. The investigation Officer could not find any

suspicious circumstances in their statements. The Investigating Officer

also examined the call details record of the alleged suspects but even

such examination has not led to any inference that any of the persons

may have played any role in the circumstances which may have led to

the death of Shyam.

9. The second reply dated 3.8.2019 speaks about the examination

cri.wp21.19.odt

of call details record by the police and Investigating Officer finding

nothing suspicious so as to substantiate the allegations made by the

petitioner. The Investigating Officer also learnt from the doctor when

he approached second time after the results of the viscera had been

declared and he then learnt about presence of 103 milligrams and 101

milligrams of ethyl alcohol per 100 grams respectively in the samples

collected from stomach, loop of intestine, liver and spleen. This

finding of ethyl alcohol in the stomach of the deceased supports the

submission of the witnesses that the deceased had habit of drinking

liquor and on the fateful day also the deceased had consumed liquor.

The statements of other witnesses also corroborate the version of

Vinayak Deshmukh, elder brother of deceased that deceased had

quarrelsome manner and that sometimes he used to behave in a weird

manner.

10. All these facts, revealed in the detailed investigation

carried out by the Investigating Officer, would only suggest, at this

stage, that there is no substance in the suspicion expressed by the

petitioner against the persons named in her complaint. They would

also show that the Investigating Officer has properly carried out the

investigation. In the circumstances, we find that the prayer made in

this petition for issuance of direction to the Investigating Officer to

cri.wp21.19.odt

conduct proper investigation and also to the Commissioner of Police,

Nagpur to appoint a Special Investigating Officer in the present case

cannot be granted by this Court. The petition stands dismissed.

                               JUDGE                                JUDGE




 Tambaskar.