Battula Madhavarao vs State Of Karnataka

Shivashankar Amarannavar, J

This petition is filed by the sole accused under Section 439 of the Cr.PC praying to grant bail in Crime No.311 of 2024 of Ramamurthy Nagar Police Station pending in SC No.1447/2024 on the file of the learned

57th Additional City Civil Sessions Judge, Mayo Hall Unit, Bengaluru, (CCH-58) registered for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 201 of IPC.

Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Additional State Public Prosecutor for the respondent/State.

The learned counsel for the petitioner would contend that, there are no eye witnesses to the incident, and the case of the prosecution is based on circumstantial evidence. The corpus has not been recovered. The case of the prosecution is based on last seen theory of petitioner and the deceased together in his house, and recovery of blood stains in his house, and recovery of weapon used. The petitioner is in custody since 04.06.2024, and as the charge sheet is filed, he is not required for custodial interrogation. There are forty four witnesses in the charge sheet, and trial will take some considerable time to be completed. The petitioner is ready to abide by terms and conditions to be imposed by this Court. There are no criminal antecedents of the petitioner. With this, he prayed to allow the petition.

Per contra, the learned Additional State Public Prosecutor for the respondent - State would contend that, the CCTV footage of the house of the petitioner has been recovered, which contains date and time of exit and entry of the petitioner holding the bags etc. The blood stains on the floors in the house of the petitioner have been collected. There is a recovery of blood stained iron rod and iron machete at the instance of the petitioner. There are evidences of petitioner purchasing iron rod and iron machete. Considering all these charge sheet materials, there is a prima facie case against the petitioner for the offences alleged against him. The offences alleged against the petitioner are punishable either with death or imprisonment for life. With this, she prayed for dismissal of the petition.

Having heard the learned counsel, the Court has perused the charge sheet and other materials placed on record.

As per the charge sheet, the case of the prosecution is that, the deceased was running the chit transactions, and the petitioner/accused did not pay the chit instalments, and when the deceased used to come to his house for collecting instalments, the petitioner suspected that, he is having illicit relation with his wife. In furtherance of the same, on 28.05.2024 at 11.00 a.m, when the deceased came to the house of the petitioner, he assaulted with machete and rod, and killed him, cut his body into pieces, and shifted parts of his body in a bags and threw it in Pinakini river.

There are no witnesses to the incident, and the entire case of the prosecution is based on circumstantial evidence. The corpus has not been recovered. The case of the prosecution is based on last scene of the petitioner and the deceased together in his house, and record of the same in CCTV footage. The other circumstances is recovery of blood stains on the floor of the house of the petitioner and blood stained iron rod and iron machete. As the case of the prosecution is based on circumstantial evidence, the prosecution has to prove each of the circumstances at trial. As the petitioner is in custody since 04.06.2024, he is not required for custodial interrogation. There are no criminal antecedents of the petitioner.

Considering the above aspects, the petitioner has made out a case for grant of bail with conditions.

In the result, the following:

ORDER

i) The petition is allowed.

ii) The petitioner is granted bail in Crime No.311 of 2024 of Ramamurthy Nagara Police Station pending in SC No.1447/2024 on the file of the learned 57th Additional City Civil Sessions Judge, Mayo Hall Unit, Bengaluru (CCH-58) registered for the offences punishable under Sections 302, 201 of IPC subject to following conditions.

a) The petitioner shall execute a personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- with one surety for the like sum to the satisfaction of the Trial Court;

b) The petitioner shall not tamper the prosecution witnesses either directly or indirectly;

c) The petitioner shall attend the Trial Court on all dates of hearing, unless exempted and co-operate with speedy disposal of the case.