Karnataka High Court
Sri Praveen S/O. Shankar Pujari vs The State Of Karnataka on 20 September, 2022
Author: Shivashankar Amarannavar
Bench: Shivashankar Amarannavar
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CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA, DHARWAD BENCH
DATED THIS THE 20TH DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2022
BEFORE
THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE SHIVASHANKAR AMARANNAVAR
CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 102533 OF 2022
BETWEEN:
SRI. PRAVEEN S/O. SHANKAR PUJARI,
AGE. 28 YEARS,
OCC. MEDICAL REPRESENTATIVE,
R/O. H. NO.172, BASAVAN GALLI,
BALEKUNDRI KH, BELAGAVI,
DIST. BELAGAVI.
...PETITIONER
(BY MISS. SEEMA S.NAIK, ADVOCATE)
AND:
THE STATE OF KARNATAKA,
THROUGH SUB-INSPECTOR OF POLICE,
KHANAPUR POLICE STATION,
BELAGAVI,
DIST. BELAGAVI-590002.
R/BY THE STATE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR,
HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA,
DHARWAD BENCH.
...RESPONDENT
(BY SRI. PRASHANTH V.MOGALI, HCGP)
THIS CRIMINAL PETITION IS FILED UNDER SECTION 439
OF CR.P.C., SEEKING TO RELEASE THE PETITIONER/ACCUSED
NO.8 ON BAIL IN CRIME NO.220/2021 OF KHANAPUR P.S. FOR
THE OFFENCES PUNISHABLE UNDER SECTIONS 302, 201,
120B, 341, 364, 388 READ WITH SECTION 149 OF IPC AND
SECTION 28 OF INDIAN ARMS ACT, PENDING ON THE FILE OF
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CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022
VIII ADDL. DISTRICT AND SESSIONS JUDGE, BELAGAVI IN CC
NO.19/2022 AND SC NO.7/2022.
THIS PETITION COMING ON FOR ORDERS THIS DAY, THE
COURT, MADE THE FOLLOWING:
ORDER
This petition is filed by accused No.8 under Section 439 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Cr.P.C.', for brevity) seeking bail in Crime No.220/2021 of Khanapur Police Station registered for the offences punishable under Sections 120B, 341, 364, 388, 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of The Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as the 'IPC', for brevity) and Section 27 of the Arms Act pending in S.C. No.7/2022 on the file of the learned VIII Additional District and Sessions Judge, Belagavi.
2. The case of the prosecution is that, one Smt. Nazeema, daughter of Mohammed Shaikh of Khanapur, residing at Belagavi, has filed -3- CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 complaint stating that, she is residing along with her son Arbaz(deceased) in a rented house at Maruti Nagar, Khanapur and her son was having love affair with one Shweta, who was residing near her house since one year. The family members of Shweta started giving trouble to Arbaz after knowing of their love affair and due to which, the complainant shifted to Belagavi and started residing at Azam Nagar. It is further stated that, on 26.09.2021, the family members of Shweta called the complainant and her son to Khanapur, at that time, Maharaj, Birje and father of Shweta were present and they threatened the son of the complainant stating that he has to end his love affair with Shweta stating that they belong to different communities and told to Arbaz to delete the photos of Shweta from his mobile and destroyed his SIM card and told him not to contact Shweta. The complainant and the deceased agreed -4- CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 and came back to Belagavi and Arbaz started using new SIM card. It is further stated that, on 28.09.2021, the complainant went to Goa to meet her relative and Arbaz was at Belagavi while coming back from Goa, she had spoken to her son Arbaz. It is further stated that when the complainant came back to home at 7:00pm, Arbaz was not in the house and she made phone call to him but he did not receive. At about 9:00pm, the complainant received a phone call from a Railway employee through her son's phone and informed her that dead body is lying on railway track at Khanapur and this phone was lying beside his body. Then the complainant along with her relatives went to the spot at 10:30pm and identified the dead body as of her son's and his legs were cut and neck and head were separated and body parts were lying. The complainant suspected that the father of Shweta and Maharaj -5- CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 have killed and thrown the dead body with a view to destroy the evidence. The said complaint came to be registered in Belagavi Railway Police Station Crime No.29/2021 against the father of Shweta (accused No.1) and accused Nos.3 and 10 for offence punishable under Sections 201 and 302 read with Section 34 of IPC. Thereafter, the complaint was transferred to the Khanapur Police Station and registered in Crime No.220/2021 for the aforesaid offences. The Khanapur Police arrested the petitioner/accused No.8 on 08.10.2021 and he is in judicial custody. After completing investigation, the Investigating Officer has filed charge sheet and the case is pending in SC No.7/2022. Petitioner/accused No.8 filed Crl.Misc.No.218/2022 seeking bail and the same came to be rejected by the learned VIII Additional District & Sessions Judge, Belagavi by order dated -6- CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 28.02.2022. Therefore, the petitioner is before this Court seeking bail.
3. Heard the arguments of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and the learned High Court Government Pleader for the respondent-State.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioner would contend that the offences alleged against this petitioner is under Section 120B of IPC i.e., conspiracy between him and accused Nos.1 and 2. This petitioner is cousin brother of CW-47-Shweta. The mother of this petitioner and the mother of Shweta are sisters. The name of the petitioner has not been stated in the complaint/FIR. The accusation against this petitioner is that he advised Shweta and made attempts to fix her marriage with CW-69-Manjunath. This petitioner/accused No.8 took Shweta to his house when she was dropped by her father and advised -7- CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 her i.e., during July,2021. The petitioner came to be implicated only on the voluntary statements of other co-accused. There is only recovery of the mobile phone from this petitioner. The main accused i.e., accused Nos.1 to 7 and 10 are from Khanapur and this petitioner/accused No.8 is resident of Balekundri, Belagavi. The mother of the deceased, grand-mother of the deceased and other witnesses whose statements are recorded under Section 164 of Cr.P.C., have not stated the involvement of this petitioner/accused No.8 in the alleged crime. The accusation in the charge sheet is that, this petitioner advised and warned Shweta and also warned deceased to leave Shweta and conspired with accused Nos.1 and 2 to finish the deceased. It is her further submission that as the charge sheet is filed, the petitioner is not required for any custodial interrogation. With this, she prayed to allow the petition.
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5. Per contra, learned High Court Government Pleader would contend that the voluntary statements of this petitioner/accused No.8 has been recorded wherein he has clearly stated his conspiracy with accused Nos.1 and 2 to finish the deceased Arbaz. The Mobile set of this petitioner has been recovered from him under mahazar. CW-47-Shweta in her statement recorded under Section 164 of Cr.P.C., has stated that this petitioner advised her to leave the affair with the deceased. CW-58 has stated that this petitioner and accused No.9 went to Khanapur and warned the deceased. There are mobile conversations between this petitioner and the Shweta. This petitioner on receiving call from accused No.3 handed over phone to CW-47-Shweta who talked with accused No.3 for 53 minutes and the said conversations are recorded. The bail petition of accused No.9 who is similarly placed to this -9- CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 petitioner came to be rejected by this Court. The charge sheet material shows prima facie case against the petitioner for the offence alleged against him. With this, he prayed to reject the petition.
6. Having regard to the submission made by the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned High Court Government Pleader, this Court has gone through the charge sheet records.
7. The deceased Arbaz was done to homicidal death after decapitating the head with deadly weapons like choori, koyta etc. His body was found on the railway track near Khanapur. The postmortem report reveals that, it is a homicidal death and head was decapitated. Thereafter, the accused thrown the dead body on the railway track to project it as it was a railway accident. Investigation papers reveal that the daughter of accused Nos.1 and 2 namely Shweta had developed
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CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 love affair with deceased Arbaz. The parents warned her to stop loving him and in spite of the same, she had continued to contact him physically and over phone. Therefore, accused Nos.1 and 2 decided to send their daughter Shweta-CW-47 to the house of her mother's sister i.e., house of this petitioner. This petitioner is son of sister of mother of Shweta. In the house of this petitioner, Shweta again continued to talk with the deceased Arbaz over mobile phones of neighbours. The said aspect came to the knowledge of this petitioner and his mother. Investigation papers also reveal that accused Nos.1 and 2 proposed the marriage of CW- 47-Shweta with one Manjunath, who is a software engineer. This petitioner/accused No.8 has made arrangements for the said proposal of marriage of CW-47-Shweta with the said Manjunath. Thereafter, also CW-47 continued to talk with the deceased and this matter was brought to the
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CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 notice of accused No.4, who was also belonging to Mohammedan community and he stated to have warned the deceased stating that they are from different community and in spite of the same, the deceased continued his love affair with CW-47. The deceased in spite of warning by the accused continued his contact with CW-47-Shweta.
8. The accusation against the petitioner is that he and accused No.9 conspired with accused Nos.1 and 2 and accused Nos.1 and 2 said that they are ready to give supari of Rs.5,00,000/- to accused No.3 for committing murder of Arbaz. Accused No.3 received a sum of Rs.60,000/- as advance. Thereafter, they planned with accused Nos.3 and 4 to call the deceased for settling the issue. The deceased was called and accused No.3 told the deceased to pay Rs.60,000/- in the form of fine to Srirama Sena and they paid Rs.7,000/- to the deceased which was given by CW-47-
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CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 Shweta. On 28.09.2021 in furtherance of conspiracy accused Nos.1 to 3, 5 to 7 and 10, accused No.4 abducted the deceased in omni car and they committed brutal murder of deceased Arbaz. The petitioner/accused No.8 was not present at the time of the said incident. The conversations recorded in the mobile phone of this petitioner/accused No.8 is conversation between the accused No.3 and Shweta and on perusal of the said conversation there is no role of this petitioner. The said conversation took for 53 minutes. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the accused No.4 belongs to Muslim community and he has also alleged to have participated in the commission of the murder of the deceased by assaulting him and therefore there is no Love Jihad. Except the conspiracy, threatening Shweta and deceased Arbaz there are no other allegations against this petitioner. As the
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CRL.P No. 102533 of 2022 charge sheet is filed, the petitioner is not required for custodial interrogation. There are 140 witnesses sighted in the charge sheet. There are no criminal antecedents of this petitioner/accused No.8.
9. The main apprehension of the prosecution is that if the petitioner is granted bail, he will threaten the complainant and other prosecution witnesses, can be met with by imposing stringent conditions.
10. In the facts and circumstances of the case and submission of the counsel, this Court is of the view that there are valid grounds for granting bail subject to certain terms and conditions. Hence, I proceed to pass the following:
ORDER The petition filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C.
is allowed. Consequently, the petitioner/accused
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No.8 shall be released on bail in Crime No.220/2021 of Khanapur Police Station subject to the following conditions:
i) The petitioner/accused shall execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.2,00,000/-
(Rupees two lakh only) with one surety for the likesum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Court.
ii) The petitioner/accused shall not indulge in tampering the prosecution witnesses.
iii) The petitioner/accused shall attend the Court on all the dates of hearing unless exempted and co-operate in speedy disposal of the case.
Sd/-
JUDGE RH