ASHOK HIRALAL YADAV Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these appeals arise from the order of conviction and sentence dated 18th and 20th February 2002 passed by the learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Greater Mumbai in Sessions Case No. 239 of 2000. Appeal No. 1129 of 2002 has been filed by Ashok Hiralal Yadav -original accused No. 4 whereas Appeal No. 350 of 2003 has been filed by the original accused No. 2 Satyanarayan @ Raju Sunderlal Jangare and Criminal Appeal No. 385 of 2007 has been filed by accused No. 1 Manisha @ Sanju Lalji Chavan and accused No. 3 Pooja @ Pappi Ramesh Yadav. Accused Nos. 1, 3 and 4 are the residents of Indore whereas accused No. 2 is the resident of Halda, Madhya Pradesh. They have been convicted and sentenced for the offences punishable under Section 120B, Section 449 read with Section 120B, Section 302 read with Section 120B and Section 394 read with Section 120B of IPC and the highest sentence awarded is life imprisonment under Section 302 read with Section 120-B of IPC.

(2.) As per the prosecution case Vinodchandra Solanki aged about 55 to 60 years was residing in Flat No. 1001, Vikas Towers, New Amboli Crossing, Andheri (East), Mumbai. Though he was a married man and had a son by name Jignesh PW 1, he was staying away from the family from the year 1989 onwards and PW 17 Smt. Renuka Rameshchandra Modi started staying with him from the year 1990. Initially they were staying at Panchsheel Apartment and in the year 1995 Vinodchandra Solanki shifted to Flat No. 1001, Vikas Towers, 10th floor. However, sometimes in the year 1997 PW 17 Renuka left his company and started staying at J.B. Nagar in her own house. But, they used to meet each other from time to time. On 23/9/1999 PW 18 -Madhukar Nikam, PW 19 Bhimrao Indalkar and PW 20 -Jaywant Sarmokadam were the police officers on duty at the Andheri Police Station and at about 11.30 p.m. PW 1 Jignesh, the son of Vinodchandra Solanki went to the Andheri Police Station along with three other persons and informed the officers on duty that his father who was residing in Flat No. 1001 of Vikas Tower Building did not open the flat door and it was latched from inside. He further stated that despite his knocking on the door for sometime, none opened the door and some pungent smell was coming from inside the flat. Police Officers team, therefore, accompanied the complainant and went to Flat No. 1001 of Vikas Towers. They tried to press the bell so that somebody from within would open the door but there was no response and, therefore, the Chairman and Secretary of the Society were called and in their presence the flat door was broken open. After entering into the flat it was noticed that a dead body was lying in the bedroom which was identified by PW 1 Jignesh as that of his father. The clothes on the body were stained with blood and one cloth was found gagged in the mouth of the deceased. On phone running CR number was called and it was recorded as CR No. 393 of 1999 against unknown persons on recording complaint (Exhibit 10) of PW 1. Two panch witnesses were called in the flat and the Inquest panchanama at Exhibit 26 was drawn and the dead body was sent to Cooper Hospital for post mortem along with PC Buckle No. 9684 and PC Buckle No. 1935. On 24/9/1999 the post mortem was conducted and report was received at Exhibit 27 A. Statements of Chandrakant Kawle PW 2, Tilambekar watchman / liftman PW 5, and Rahima Begum Mohd. Hassanuddin -PW 6 who was working as the maid servant for the deceased were recorded. Some articles lying at the spot were also recovered and brought to the police station and blood sample was also drawn at about 5.15 a.m. on 24/9/1999. On the basis of the complaint at Exhibit 10, C.R. No. 393 of 1999 was registered with the police station for the offence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 394 of IPC against unknown persons. During the course of investigation API Pathan arrested one female accused by name Sanju @ Manisha Chavan (accused No. 1) from Indore on 27/10/1999, in connection with C.R. No. 393/1999 and she was brought to the Andheri Police Station. During her interrogation on 3rd November 1999 she made voluntary statement which was recorded at Exhibit 44 and she had shown her willingness to accompany the police team to Indore. PW 19 along with other police personnel left for Indore in the early hours of 6th November 1999 and reached Halda at about 11.30 p.m. by road. At the instance of accused No. 1, the police team with the help of the Halda Police Station personnel took accused non.2 in custody at about 00.30 hours, recovered some articles belonging to the deceased from the house of accused No. 2 and recovery panchanama at Exhibit 25 was drawn for which PW 10 Shri Mohammed Khan Guljar Khan was the panch witness. Thereafter the police team of Andheri Police Station left for Indore by road and reached at about 9 a.m. on 7/11/2009 along with accused Nos. 1 and 2. They went to Chatripura Police Station at Indore and requested for police constables to be provided. They proceeded for Sai Baba Mandir Road and at the instance of accused No. 1, accused No. 3 was apprehended near Nidhi Apartment. Accused No. 3 showed her willingness to make a statement which was recorded in the presence of two witnesses (Exhibit 73) and some articles were recovered at her instance. Then the police team proceeded towards Dravid Nagar area of Indore city and apprehended accused No. 4 at the instance of accused No. 1 He had also shown his willingness to make voluntary statement which was reduced in writing in the presence of Shri Sanjay Jain PW 14 and Shri Madan Astol. Some articles in addition to Rs. 5000/-were claimed to have been recovered from a jewellery shop belonging to Vishnuprasad Jaiswal. As per the police they also recovered a knife concealed in the backyard of accused No. 4 (Exhibit 77). With all the accused in their custody, the police team returned to Mumbai i.e. Andheri Police Station on 8th November 1999 at about 10 a.m. by road. Test Identification parade was held on 18th November 1999 by Smt. Alka Paralkar PW 3 and SEO, wherein PW 2 Chandrakant Kawle, PW 5 Sitaram Tilambekar and PW 6 -Rahima Begum Mohd. Hassanuddin participated and identified all the four accused as per the memorandum of identification at Exhibits 14 and 15. During the course of further investigation PW 20 deputed PW 19 to visit Akola on 27/11/1999. He interrogated PW 4 Shri Nilkanth Kore and his brother as well as father. It is the case of the prosecution that this witness had admitted about the visit of all the four accused to his house and overnight stay prior to the date of the offence. His statement was recorded at Exhibit 86 and he was asked to visit Mumbai and as per the same he visited Andheri Police Station on 29/11/1999. In the mean while on 3rd November 1999 the clothes of the deceased were sent for CA and CA report was received at Exhibit 29. On completion of investigation, charge-sheet was filed on 25th January 2000 (Exhibit 96) before the 10th Court of Metropolitan Magistrate at Andheri. Committal order was passed on 16th February 2000 under Section 209 of Cr.P.C. and the charge was framed on 18/12/2001.

(3.) As per the prosecution the deceased Vinodchandra Solanki was running a business along with his brother Dilip Solanki and he also had another brother by name Nitin Solanki. Dilip was staying with his wife Sudha and Nitin was staying with his wife Madhavi in their own homes. Accused No. 1 was staying as a paying guest for some time with Nitin and Madhavi Solanki and, therefore, she was known to the deceased. It is further claimed that accused No. 1 while staying as paying guest with Madhavi, had also visited the house of the deceased on some occasions and thus was known to the deceased. After accused No. 1 left Mumbai, she went back to her native place Indore and she was also aware that PW 17 Renuka Modi had stopped staying with the deceased and, therefore, she hatched a conspiracy at Indore involving the other three accused so as to rob and murder the deceased. As part of this conspiracy, all the four accused left from Indore, halted at Akola overnight in the house of PW 4, the brother-in-law of accused No. 4 and on the next day they proceeded to Mumbai. Accused No. 4 remained at the railway station in Mumbai and accused Nos. 1 to 3 came to Vikas Towers around 9 a.m. on 22/9/1999. The watchman on duty PW 2 Chandrakant Kawale did not allow the accused Nos. 1 to 3 to go to the house of the deceased i.e. Flat No. 1001 on 10th floor and hence accused No. 1 contacted the deceased on intercom. After some time the watchman, on the instructions of the deceased, allowed all the three accused to go to the flat of the deceased and PW 5 Tilambekar was the watchman-cum-liftman who reached the accused to the 10th floor. The accused entered the flat of the deceased and at about 9.30 a.m. PW 6 Rahimabi, maid servant reported for her work. At the instructions of the deceased, PW 6 prepared tea for the accused and the lady guests entered the kitchen and carried the tea to be served to all the accused. PW 6 left the house of the deceased around 10.30 a.m. on 22/9/1999. The accused came down from the flat of the deceased at about 1.30 p.m. and this was seen by PW 2 as well as PW 5. While going to the flat as well as returning from the flat of the deceased, accused No. 2 was carrying a suitcase and accused Nos. 1 and 3 had their ladys purse. Around 2 p.m. on 22/9/1999 a courier boy entered Vikas Towers and he came down to the watchman PW 5 and stated that he wanted to deliver a letter addressed to the deceased but there was no response to open the flat despite his multiple attempts to press the bell and, therefore, the said mail was received by PW 5. It was only on the next day i.e. on 23/9/1999 when PW 1 along with three or four persons came to visit the house of the deceased, he did not get any response and, therefore, went to Andheri Police Station.