AMRUTLAL SOMESHWAR JOSHI Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The sole accused in the case is the appellant. He being a domestic male servant namely a cook working in a Sindhi family living in a flat in Bombay City, is alleged to have committed three murders of the members of that family by causing multiple stab injuries by means of a big knife. The motive for the crime is alleged to be the gain of the property consisting of cash, jewellery and other valuable goods worth Rupees 2,06,000/-. The case rests mainly on the circumstantial evidence. The trial Court accepted the prosecution case and convicted the appellant under Section 302, I.P.C. in respect of each of the murder and sentenced him to death, subject to confirmation by the High Court and also convicted him under Section 394, I.P.C. and sentenced to imprisonment for life. The High Court confirmed the death sentence and also dismissed the criminal appeal filed by the appellant. Hence the present appeal. The facts giving rise to the prosecution case are as follows:

(2.) Parsharam Sadarangani (deceased No 1) aged about 77 years was residing in Flat No. 602, Link Apartment, Plot No. 357, 13th Road, Khar (West), Bombay along with his son-in-law Chandru Mirchandani P.W. 2, his daughter Hema, (deceased No. 2) aged 32 years namely wife of P.W. 2 and his grand-daughter Vaishali, (deceased No. 3) aged about 3 years. The flat consists of two bed-rooms, one with an attached bath-room and w.c., a drawing-room, a kitchen and a bath-room and toilet block. Deceased No. 1 retired from service and one of his daughters, Rukmini, was married to Kishan Ramchandani, who at the relevant time, was working in Hongkong. Rukmini along with his two children had come down to Bombay and stayed with deceased No. 1 for few days and thereafter proceeded to Baroda from where her husband hailed. P.W. 2 was serving as an Executive in M/s. Libbas Impex Pvt. Ltd. situated at Nariman Point. He used to leave the flat at about 10.30 in the morning and return late in the evening. A month before the date of the incident, his wife (deceased No. 2) had given birth to their second child. The accused was employed three months prior to the date of the incident to work as domestic servant and cook by deceased No. 1 on a salary of Rs. 300/- per month. The accused used to reside in the flat and had his belongings and the bedding kept in the flat. Deceased No. 1 also engaged the services of a maid servant Parvatibai, P.W. 3, who used to visit the flat for cleaning the utensils in the morning and in the afternoon.

(3.) On the date of the incident i.e. August 4, 1987 P.W. 2 left for his office by about 10 O'clock and at that time deceased Nos. 1, 2 and 3 and the month old infant child along with the accused were in the flat. P.W. 3 came to wash the utensils by about 3.00 in the afternoon and at that time she also saw the accused in the flat and deceased No. 1 was resting in one bed-room and deceased Nos. 2 and 3 and the infant child were in the other bed-room resting after having their mid-day meals. P.W. 3 left the flat after cleaning the utensils. At about 5 p.m. the accused is alleged to have come down from the flat along with three or four suit cases and one Ramabahadur Singh, a Watchman of the Apartment saw him and the accused told the Watchman that he was carrying the suit cases to the airport and some articles to the residence of one Ambrish Sanghavi, a friend of Rukmini who had come down from Hongkong. At about 8 p.m. P.W. 2 returned from the office and rang the door bell but did not receive any response finding the door to be locked. On enquiry, the Watchman told him that the accused had left in the afternoon with suit cases and some articles tied in a bed-sheet. The Watchman, however, could not tell him as to where the other family members had gone. P.W. 2 went to the flat of his neighbour Balani and waited there till late at night expecting the members of his family to come and as they did not come till next day morning, he telephoned to Savita Sanghavi to enquire as to whether deceased Nos. 1 and 2 had come to their residence. Having received the negative reply he also enquired Rukmini at Baroda. Thereafter P.W. 2 searched for a keymaker and got a duplicate key made and with that he opened the flat and found that deceased No. 1 was lying dead on the bed with multiple injuries and his wife, deceased No. 2 and daughter, deceased No. 3 lying dead in the other bedroom with multiple injuries and the infant child was lying on the ground. He also found that the whole flat was ransacked and the cupboards were opened and valuable articles were missing and he noticed that the accused was not seen in the flat or anywhere in the building. He lifted the infant child and handed over to his neighbour Mrs. Arora. P.W. 2 was in a great shock and a neighbour telephoned to the Police Inspector Thakur, P.W. 11 attached to Bandra Police Station P.W. 11 made an entry in the diary, proceeded to the flat with other officers and prepared a panchnama at the scene of occurrence including the things which were missing as stated by P.W. 2. P.W. 11 recorded the F.I.R. and issued the, same. P.W. 2 noticed that apart from the various articles missing, a sum of Rs. 92,000/-kept in the cupboard also was taken away. P.W. 11 noticed that a trunk and a bedding belonging to the accused were lying in the flat. He also seized some of the clothes which were hung for drying. He also recovered four knives, one. of which was quite large and stained with blood. Thereafter an intensive search was made to find out the whereabouts of the accused.