Guru and Others vs State of Karnataka

K.N. Phaneendra, J.—Petitioners in Criminal Petition No. 200338/2015 who are arrayed as accused Nos. 1 to 4 and petitioners in Criminal Petition No. 200340/2015 who are arrayed as accused Nos. 5 to 8 have sought for grant of regular bail and anticipatory bail respectively in connection with C.C. No. 100/2015 on the file of the JMFC, Basavakalyan, Bidar.

The brief factual matrix that emanate from the records are that:

"A person by name Ganapati S/o Puru Jadhav who is the Panchayat Chairman of Kohinoor village lodged first information report stating that on 11.11.2014 he had been to the panchayat office and enquired into the application filed by one Shivanand S/o Chitambaray Swamy (deceased) against his brothers seeking partition of the landed properties belonging to the family. The complainant sent words to the brothers of the deceased and in fact, all the brothers i.e., accused Nos. 1 to 4 and others have come to the panchayat office. Panchayat was taken place in the office itself and the brothers of the deceased i.e., accused Nos. 1 to 4 in fact told in the panchayat that they have to perform marriage of their three sisters and after their marriage they would divide the family properties. But the deceased-Shivanand who was present at that time refused to accept the said panchayat and refused to put his signature to the document prepared by the panchayatdars. Immediately, he went out of the panchayat office. In this context, it is further alleged that accused Nos. 1 to 4 have demanded the deceased to put his signature as he himself has lodged the application before the panchayat office. In that context, the deceased-Shivanand raised his voice and abused his brothers. Accused Nos. 1 to 4 have caught hold the said Shivanand and in fact, accused No. 1-Guru took out a knife and stabbed the deceased-Shivanand, and the said person fell down due to the injuries sustained. Accused No. 2-Rajshekarayya threw a stone on the head of the deceased and caused severe injuries due to which the said Shivanand succumbed to the injuries. The other accused persons i.e., accused Nos. 5 to 8 have helped accused Nos. 1 to 4 in burning the dead body of the deceased-Shivanand, in order to destroy the evidence against them. On these allegations, the police have investigated the matter and submitted charge sheet before the Court." 3. Even the entire charge sheet papers particularly, statement of other members of the panchayat who were present at that time disclose that they have also reiterated the allegations made in the first information report. As the dead body was burnt, there is no postmortem report available therefore, the real cause of death was not surfacing. Nevertheless, looking to the above said facts and circumstances, there are eyewitnesses to the incident who have specifically spoken about the overt-act of accused No. 1-Guru as well as accused No. 2-Rajshekarayya who have gone to the extreme extent of stabbing of their own brother and throwing stone on the head of the deceased. At this stage, the Court may not be in a position to conclude whether the offence falls under Section 304-II or under Section 302 of IPC, because though the intention of the other accused may be to teach a lesson to their brother but why those two persons have gone to the extreme extent of killing their own brother.

Under the above said circumstances, when the specific overt-acts have been made against accused Nos. 1 and 2 stating that they have caused severe injuries on the body of Shivanand and responsible for the death of the deceased, they are not entitled to be enlarged on bail. However, the other petitioners i.e., petitioner Nos. 3 and 4 in Criminal Petition No. 200338/2015 and petitioners in Criminal Petition No. 200340/2015 are entitled to be enlarged on bail.

Hence, for the above said reasons, I pass the following:

ORDER

Criminal Petition No. 200338/2015 filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C., is partly allowed. The petition is rejected insofar as petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 are concerned. The petition is allowed insofar as petitioner Nos. 3 and 4 are concerned. Criminal Petition No. 200340/2015 filed under Section 438 of Cr.P.C., is allowed. Consequently, the above said petitioners shall be released on bail in connection with Crime No. 99/2014 for the offences punishable under Sections 201, 302 r/w Section 149 of IPC, subject to following conditions:

"i) The petitioners in Criminal Petition No. 200340/2015 shall surrender themselves before the Committal Court in C.C. No. 100/2015 on the file of JMFC, Basavakalyan, Bidar and execute personal bonds for a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh Only) each with one solvent surety each for the likesum to the satisfaction of the Committal Court.

ii) Petitioner Nos. 3 and 4 in Criminal Petition No. 200338/2015 shall be released on bail on their executing personal bonds for a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh Only) each with one solvent surety each for the likesum to the satisfaction of the Trial Court.

iii) The petitioners who are released on bail shall not indulge in tampering the prosecution witnesses.

iv) The petitioners shall appear before the Trial Court on all the future hearing dates unless prevented by any genuine cause.

v) The petitioners shall not leave the jurisdiction of Bidar District without prior permission of the jurisdictional Court, till the disposal of the case on merits."