Karnataka High Court
Shri Kedari S/O Ashok Patil vs The State Of Karnataka on 1 September, 2022
Author: Shivashankar Amarannavar
Bench: Shivashankar Amarannavar
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA
DHARWAD BENCH
DATED THIS THE 01 S T DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2022
BEFORE
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHIVASHANKAR AMARANNAVAR
CRIMINAL PETITION No. 102192/ 2022
C/W
CRIMINAL PETITION No. 102209/ 2022
IN CRIMINAL PETI TION No.102192/ 2022
BETWEEN:
1. SHRI KEDARI S/O ASHOK PATIL
AGE: 36 YEARS,
OCC. AGRICULTURE,
R/O. MARUTI GALLI GOUNDAWAD,
TQ.DIST. BELAGAVI,
PIN CODE. 590010.
2. SMT. PREMA W/O ASHOK PATIL
AGE: 61 YEARS,
OCC. HOUSEHOLD
R/O. MARUTI GALLI GOUNDAWAD,
TQ.DIST. BELAGAVI,
PIN CODE. 590010.
3. SHRI BHARAT S/O KEDARI PATIL
AGE: 62 YEARS,
OCC. AGRICULTURE,
R/O. MARUTI GALLI GOUNDAWAD,
TQ.DIST. BELAGAVI,
PIN CODE. 590010.
4. SHRI MARUTI S/O NARAYAN PATIL
AGE: 63 YEARS,
2
OCC. AGRICULTURE,
R/O. MARUTI GALLI GOUNDAWAD,
TQ.DIST. BELAGAVI,
PIN CODE. 590010.
...PETITIONERS
(BY SRI. S.B.D EYANNAVAR, ADV OCA TE)
AND:
THE STATE OF KARNATAKA
THROUGH PI KAKA TI PS ,
R/BY SPECIAL PUBLIC PROS ECUT OR,
HIGH COURT BENCH DHARWAD .
... RES PONDENT
(BY SRI. PRAS HAN TH V.MOGALI , HCGP)
THIS CRIMINAL PETITION IS FILED UNDER 438 OF
CR.P.C., SEEKING TO THAT THE PETITIONERS/ ACCUSED
NOs.16 T O 19 MAY BE RELEASED ON ANTICIPATORY BAIL IN
KAKATI P.S . CR.N O.166/ 2022 FOR T HE OFF ENCES PUN ISHABLE
U/S 143, 147, 148, 149, 302, 307, 323 OF I PC DATED
19.06.2022.
IN CRIMINAL PETI TION No.102209/ 2022
BETWEEN:
SHRI BASAWANT S/O SANTU MUTAGEKER,
AGE: 66 YEARS, OCC. PENSIONER AND
AGRICULTURE, R/O MARUTI GALLI,
GOUNDAWAD, TQ. DIST. BELAGAVI,
PINI CODE-590010.
...PETITIONER
(BY SRI. S.B.D EYANNAVAR, ADV OCA TE)
AND:
THE STATE OF KARNATAKA
THROUGH PI KAKA TI PS ,
3
R/BY SPECIAL PUBLIC PROS ECUT OR,
HIGH COURT BENCH DHARWAD .
... RES PONDENT
(BY SRI. PRAS HAN TH V.MOGALI , HCGP)
THIS CRIMINAL PETITION IS FILED UNDER SECTION 438
OF CR.P.C., SEEKING THAT THE PETITIONER/ACCUS ED NO.25
MAY BE RELEASED ON ANTICIPAT ORY BAIL IN KAKATI P.S.
CR.N O.166/ 2022 FOR THE OFFEN CES PUNISHABLE U/S 143,
147, 148, 149, 323, 302, 307 OF I PC DATED 19.06.2022.
THESE CRIMINAL PETITIONS COMING ON FOR ORDERS
THIS DAY, T HE COURT MADE THE F OLLOWING:
ORDER
Criminal Petition No.102192/2022 is filed by accused Nos.16, 17, 18 and 19 and Criminal Petition No.102209/2022 is filed by accused No.25, both the petitions are filed under Section 438 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Cr.P.C.', for brevity) seeking anticipatory bail in Crime No.166/2022 of Kakati Police Station registered for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 302, 307 and 323 of The Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as the 'IPC', for brevity). 4
2. The case of the prosecution is that, on 19.06.2022 one Smt. Pooja W/o Satish Patil lodged a complaint before Kakati Police Station, Belagavi stating that she is resident of Goundwad village residing along with her husband by name Satish Patil (deceased). That her husband is the owner of Medical shop situated at Bauxite road, Belagavi and they have two children. It is further stated that on 18.09.2022 at about 8:30 p.m, complainant along with one Sonam Patil and other women had assembled at Lakshmi Temple for meeting in regard to women association and that one Yadav Yallappa Patil of their village has a provisional store situated near Bhairavnath temple. It is further stated that accused No.2-Aranav Anand Kutre came in his Innova car to park it near the provisional store belonging to Yadav and at that time, Yadav told the accused No.2-Aranav not to park his car near his shop since his shop is still open and 5 further asked him to park it once the shop is closed. Due to which, said Aranav Kutre-accused No.2 picked up quarrel with him and they both started abusing each other loudly. It is further stated that on hearing the noise, accused No.1-Anand Kutre, accused No.5- Shashikala Kutre and accused No.6-Laxmi Venkat Kutre came out even the complainant came near the said provisional store along with Sonam Yadav Patil, Suman Gangaram Patil, Leela Gundu Pingat, Rekha Madhu Pawar, Roopa Bahurao Pawar and at that time, the said accused No.2-Aranav Kutre and accused No.1-Anand Kutre were quarreling with Yadav Patil in connection with parking of car. It is further submitted that the complainant and others tried to console but they did not stop quarreling. It is further stated that at that time, the other accused persons i.e, accused No.9-Venkat Kutre, accused No.10-Siddappa Mutagekar, Accused No.11-Daulath Mutagekar, 6 accused No.3-Jayappa Niljakar, accused No.2-Surekha Nilajakar, accused No.8-Sanjana Nilajakar, accused No.4-Mahantesh Nilajakar, accused No.15-Lakan Nilajakar, accused No.12-Vasanth Patil, accused No.13-Sanjay Kutre, accused No.14-Sangeeta Kutre, accused No.16-Kedari Patil, accused No.17-Prema Patil, accused No.18-Bharath Patil, accused No.19- Maruti Patil, accused No.20-Topanna Patil(Petitioner herein), accused No.21-Gajanan Birje, accused No.22- Parashuram Mutagekar, accused No.23-Kallappa Astekar, accused No.24-Mahesh Sambrekar and accused No.25-Basavanth Mutagekar together started quarreling with Yadav Patil. It is further submitted that the complainant and their association of women tried to console them again and at that time, it was about 9:00 p.m. It is further stated that at that time, the husband of complainant-Satish S/o Rajendra Patil (deceased) also came near them and enquired and to 7 which, the complainant revealed about the incident. At that time, her husband-Satish (deceased) told them not to fight and further told that if they have any complaints to approach Police Station and lodge a complaint and to which, accused No.1-Anand Kutre, accused No.2-Aranav Kutre and 22 other persons picked up quarrel asking him to lodge a complaint and they would look after the consequences and it is further alleged that one Nandu Siddappa Nilajkar (injured) came to console and then, said Anand- accused No.1 and Aranav-accused No.2 started abusing Satish (deceased) stating that he would always interfere in all the matters and that he would come to educate us and later told accused No.5- Shashikala to get the knife and accused No.5- Shashikala brought the knife and gave it to Anand- accused No.1. It is further alleged that later, accused No.1-Anand and other accused in anger told that let 8 us not leave the Satish today and would kill him and at that time, accused No.1-Anand assaulted Satish with knife on his back and with the same knife, again he went to stab him at that time, the Nandu(injured) tried to stop the accused No.1-Anand to which, the accused No.1-Anand threatened him with dire consequences and caused injuries to the hands of said Nandu(injured). It is further stated that thereafter one Jayappa Bhairu Neelajkar-accused No.3 stabbed deceased Satish with the knife which he had brought along with him by saying that let us not spare him today. It is further stated that the complainant tried to rescue her husband Satish and when she went near him, accused No.7-Surekha Nilajakar and accused No.8-Sanjana Nilajakar held her hair and threw her on the ground. At that time, Sonam and Yadav together told that let us save him and asked one Umesh to bring Van of Mahesh Pingat and thereafter took him to 9 KLE hospital and later he succumbed to injuries in the hospital. It is further stated that earlier all the accused persons together had assaulted her husband deceased Satish Patil in connection with the dispute of land of Goundwad Temple and complaint has been registered before the APMC Police Station. The said complaint came to be registered in Kakati Police Station under Crime No.166/2022 against 25 accused persons for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 302, 307 and 323 of IPC. The petitioners who were arrayed as accused Nos.16 to 19 apprehending their arrest have filed Criminal Miscellaneous No.888/2022 and accused No.25 apprehending his arrest has filed Criminal Miscellaneous No.915/2022 seeking anticipatory bail and both came to be dismissed by separate orders by the learned II Additional Sessions Judge, Belagavi dated 05.07.2022. Therefore, the accused Nos.16 to 10 19 and 25 are before this Court seeking anticipatory bail.
3. Heard the arguments of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners and the learned High Court Government Pleader for the respondent-State.
4. It would be the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioners that, there are no overt acts alleged against the petitioners except their presence and they quarrelling with the deceased. It is his further submission that the overt acts are alleged against the other accused who stated to have committed murder of the deceased Satish. It is submitted that the petitioners are ready to co-operate with the Police in the investigation and are ready to abide by any terms and conditions imposed by this Court. He further submits that the petitioners are not going to enter the limits of Goundawad Village till the 11 case is disposed of. With this, he prayed for allowing the petition.
5. Per contra, learned High Court Government Pleader submitted that, the investigation is still in progress and the averments of the complaint fairly reveal the presence of the petitioners and quarrelling with the deceased. The role of the petitioners is to be ascertained only after filing of the charge sheet. It is further submitted that there are other two cases registered in Crime No.87/2020 of APMC Police Station against the accused Nos.16, 19, and 21 and in Crime No.80/2021 of Kakati Police Station against the accused Nos.16, 17 and 18. It is his further submission that the statement of the complainant has been recorded under Section 164 of Cr.P.C. It is his further submission that the complainant has stated that other accused held the deceased and facilitated the accused Nos.1 to 5 to assault him. It is his further 12 submission that if the petitioners are granted anticipatory bail, there are chances of they committing similar offences. With this, he prayed to reject the petition.
6. Having regard to the submission made by the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned High Court Government Pleader, this Court has gone through the FIR and order passed by the Sessions Court.
7. The accusation leveled against the petitioners is that they were present at the spot at the time of the incident along with other accused who were quarrelling with the deceased. There are no overt act alleged against the petitioners of assaulting and killing of the deceased and assaulting the injured. The accused No.20 who is similarly placed to that of these petitioners has been granted anticipatory bail by 13 this Court in Criminal Petition No.102014/2022 by order dated 27.07.2022 and therefore the petitioners are entitled for grant of anticipatory bail on the ground of parity. The main objection of the prosecution is that, if the petitioners are granted anticipatory bail, they are likely to enter the limits of Goundwad Village and threaten the complainant, could be met with by imposing stringent conditions.
8. 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 anticipatory bail subject to certain terms and conditions. Hence, I proceed to pass the following:
ORDER Criminal Petition No.102192/2022 filed by accused Nos.16, 17, 18 and 19 and Criminal Petition No.102209/2022 filed by accused No.25, both filed under Section 438 of Cr.P.C. are allowed. 14 Consequently, the petitioners/accused Nos.16 to 19 and 25 are ordered to be released on bail in the event of their arrest in Crime No.166/2022 of Kakati Police Station, subject to the following conditions:
i. The petitioners shall execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh Only) each with one surety for the likesum to the satisfaction of the jurisdiction Court.
ii. The petitioners shall voluntarily appear before the Investigating Officer within fifteen days from this day and execute bail bond and furnish surety.
iii. The petitioner shall attend the Police Station concerned every Sunday between 10:00 a.m. and 02:00 p.m. and mark their presence for a period of three months or till filing of the final report, whichever is earlier.
iv. The petitioners shall co-operate with the investigation and make themselves available for interrogation whenever required. 15 v. The petitioners shall not directly or indirectly make any inducement, threat or promise to any witness acquainted with the facts of the case so as to dissuade him from disclosing such facts to the Court or to any Police Officer.
vi. The petitioners shall not obstruct or hamper the police investigation and not to play mischief with the evidence collected or yet to be collected by the police.
vii. The petitioners shall not enter the limits of Goundwad Village till the disposal of the case registered against them.
Sd/-
JUDGE RH