- (1.)This case relates to a double murder. One Santu Jarag and his brother Narayan jarag were murdered in the series of episodes in which another brother Laxman jarag, PW-13 sustained a number of injuries including grievous injuries. It happened around 3. 00 p. m. on 27.7.1984. Altogether, twelve persons were arraigned in the trial court for offences under sections 302, 307 read with section 149 of the I PC besides offences relating to rioting and unlawful assembly. The trial court acquitted A6 Shiva Rama Jarag, a7 Sambhaji Rama Jarag, A8 hindurao Keraba Jarag and A12 Shankar rama Jarag, but convicted the remaining accused. All the same, they were acquitted of the offence under section 302 read with section 149 IPC but the main offence found against them did not escalate beyond section 307 IPC with the aid of section 149 IPC. When the State of Maharashtra filed an appeal against acquittal of the offence under section 302 IPC, the convicted persons also filed appeals challenging the conviction and sentence imposed on them. A division bench of the High Court of Bombay had disposed of all the appeals by a common judgment which is impugned in these appeals. As per the said judgment, the total acquittal of some of the accused had been maintained, but the convicted persons were subjected to escalation of the offence from section 307 to section 302 with the aid of section 149 of the IPC and all of them were sentenced to imprisonment for life regarding that main offence. It is unnecessary to mention the sentence imposed on them in regard to the lesser offences.
(2.)The substance of the prosecution case is the following: there was dispute over a land as between the members of the family of the deceased on the one side and their landlords on the other. Though the deceased ultimately succeeded in the litigation, a new litigation was launched by the sixth accused Shiva Rama jarag which also ended in favour of the deceased. Still, they were not able to enjoy the property peacefully and hence, deceased santu Jarag filed a civil suit in 1982 and obtained a temporary injunction order. This was the background of the episode which took place on 27.7.1984.
(3.)When deceased - Santu Jarag alighted from the bus, he was confronted by all the accused at about 3. 00 p. m. and he was subjected to incessant beating with lethal weapons. Santu Jarag fell down and succumbed to the injuries sustained thereby.