Chattisgarh High Court
Santosh Dhurwe vs State Of Chhattisgarh on 4 March, 2025
1
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
CRA No. 1764 of 2024
1 - Nanku Markam S/o Suddhu Markam Aged About 49 Years R/o Village - Kotgaon,
Thana - Sahaspur Lohara, District - Kabeerdham, Chhattisgarh.
--- appellant
versus
1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Police Station - Sahaspur Lohara, District -
Kabeerdham, Chhattisgarh.
--- Respondent(s)
CRA No. 1366 of 2024
1 - Santosh Dhurwe S/o Pheru Dhurwe Aged About 40 Years R/o Village Kotgaon,
Police Station- Sahaspur Lohara, Distt.- Kabirdham, C.G.
---appellant
Versus
1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through- Station House Officer, P.S.- Sahaspur Lohara,
Distt.- Kabirdham, C.G.
--- Respondent(s)
Order Sheet
04/03/2025 By the impugned judgment dated 19.04.2024, the learned
Additional Sessions Judge, Distt. Kabirdham (C.G.), in Sessions
Trial No. 05/2023, has convicted the appellants for the offence under
Section 302 r/w Section 34 and Section 201 r/w Section 34 of IPC
and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment and a fine of Rs.
500/-, in default of payment of fine, further R.1. for 02 months and
R.1. for OS years with fine of Rs. 200/- in default of payment of fine
further R.I. for 01 month, respectively.
Heard Mr. Samir Singh, learned counsel for the appellant in
Cr.A. No. 1764/2024 and Mr. Ashutosh Pandey, learned counsel for
the appellant in Cr.A. No. 1366/2024. Also heard Mr. S.S. Baghel,
Dy. Govt. Advocate appearing for the State/respondent on the
instant application for suspension of sentence and grant of bail.
The case of the prosecution is that the deceased Omkar
Verma was having love affair with the daughter of appellant Santosh
Dhurwe, and on the date of the incident, he went to meet her at
about 11.00 pm in the night. They were seen by the appellant
Santosh Dhurwe, and then he, along with other co-accused persons
Nanku Gond and Kailash Yadav, assaulted him with hands and fists
and belt and tied his hands with nylon rope and threw the dead body
in shrubs. In the post-mortem report, antemortem injuries have been
found on the body of the deceased and his 3rd and 4th ribs were
found fractured. From the appellants, belt, nylon rope and
motorcycle have been seized. In the FSL report, the soil of the spot
is matched with the soil found in the clothes of the appellants. The
appellants were seen with the company of the deceased and after
investigation charge sheet was filed and after the trial of the case,
they have been convicted and sentenced.
Learned counsel for the appellants would submit that the case
of the prosecution is based on suspicion, and there is no direct
evidence against the appellants and no eye witness of the incident.
The chain of circumstances is not complete, which connects the
appellants with the offence in question. The witnesses of the
memorandum and seizure have been turned hostile and have not
supported the prosecution's case. The FSL report is not sufficient to
hold the conviction of the appellants in the commission of the murder
of the deceased. The dead body was found in an open place. The
appellants are in jail since 16-10-2022 and final adjudication of the
appeal will take its own time, therefore, the appellants may be
released on bail.
Per contra, learned counsel for the state opposes and
submitted that the deceased died due to the injuries and his dead
body was recovered on the instance of the appellants, the belt and
nylon rope have been seized from the appellants, and there is
evidence that the deceased was in love affair with the daughter of
the appellant Santosh Dhurwe and to eliminate him, he along with
the other co-accused persons, have committed his murder and threw
the dead body in shrubs. The soil found on the clothes of the
appellants is matched with the soil of the spot and the appellants
have not given any explanation for the same. Thus, the chain of
circumstances has been completed, and the appellants are not
entitled to be released on bail.
We have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused
the record of the trial court.
Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for
the parties, the evidence available on record, the evidence of motive,
post-mortem report, recovery of weapon of offence from the
appellants, recovery of dead body and also from the FSL report, and
the nature of the allegation, we deem it appropriate to reject the
applications filed by the appellants for suspension of sentence and
grant of bail at this stage.
Accordingly, I.A. No. 1 of 2024 (in CRA No. 1366/2024) filed
by appellant- Santosh Dhurwe and I.A. No. 02/2024 (in CRA No.
1764/2024) filed by appellant Nanku Markam stands rejected.
Let the matter be listed for final hearing on due course.
Sd/- Sd/-
(Ravindra Kumar Agrawal) (Ramesh Sinha)
Judge Chief Justice
sagrika
SAGRIKA AGRAWAL
AGRAWAL 2025.03.11
14:57:25
+0530
