IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1253 OF 2019 Raju Kshatriya @ Raju Nepali @

Tapan Sarveshwar Das ..Appellant Versus The State of Maharashtra ..Respondent WITH INTERIM APPLICATION NO. 2741 OF 2024 IN CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1253 OF 2019 __________

Mr. D. G. Khamkar for the Appellant.

Ms. Kranti T. Hiwrale, APP for State/Respondent.

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CORAM : SARANG V. KOTWAL &

MANJUSHA DESHPANDE, JJ.

DATE : 27 JUNE 2025 JUDGMENT: ( Per Sarang V. Kotwal, J. )

1. The Appellant has challenged the Judgment and order dated 22.07.2016 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Pune, in Sessions Case No.45 of 2015. The Appellant was convicted for commission of the offence punishable under section 302 of the I.P.C. and was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10000/- and in Digitally signed by VINOD VINOD BHASKAR BHASKAR GOKHALE GOKHALEDate:

2025.07.02 +0530 default to suffer R.I. for one year.

2. Heard Mr. Khamkar, learned counsel for the Appellant and Ms. Kranti Hiwrale, learned APP for the State.

3. The prosecution case is that the deceased Virendra Kumar and the Appellant were working as the labourers under the supervision of the first informant Parasnath Vishwakarma. They used to sleep on the fifth floor of the building where the construction was going on. The prosecution case is that, in the late evening on 25.09.2014, there was a quarrel between the deceased Virendra Kumar and the Appellant. The Appellant wanted financial help from the deceased, but he refused; therefore, there was a quarrel. After the dinner, they went to sleep on the fifth floor. In the morning, the deceased was found in a pool of blood with the head injury. There was a cement block and a hammer lying nearby. According to the prosecution case, the Appellant committed this murder in the night and then absconded. On the next morning, when the dead body was discovered, Parasnath informed the police. The police came on the scene. They made enquiries.

Parasnath gave his F.I.R. at about 2:30p.m. on 26.09.2014. The Appellant was arrested on 03.10.2014. His blood stained shirt was recovered at his instance from a field, lying in the grass, on 05.10.2014. In the meantime, the investigation was continued, the postmortem examination was conducted, the statements of the witnesses were recorded and at the conclusion of the investigation, the charge-sheet was filed. The case was committed to the Court of Sessions.

4. During the trial, the prosecution examined six witnesses. Two witnesses were examined for proving the circumstance of “last seen together theory”. The panchas for spot panchanama and recovery panchanama of the shirt were examined. The Medical Officer was examined and finally the investigating officer was examined.

5. The defence of the Appellant was of total denial. According to him, few days prior to the incident, he had lost his father, therefore, he had gone to Assam. He was falsely implicated. 6. The learned Trial Judge considered the evidence on record and the defence taken by the Appellant. The learned Trial Judge particularly relied on the evidence of PW-1 Parasnath and PW-2 Wasim who were examined on the point of “last seen together theory”. The learned trial Judge also accepted the recovery of blood stained shirt at the instance of the Appellant. Based on these circumstances, he recorded the findings of guilt against the Appellant.

7. PW-1 Parasnath Vishwakarma was the supervisor at Ciroko Grand Society’s construction site at Punawale, Tal. Mulshi, District Pune. At that time, the Appellant, the deceased and few others were working at that spot with PW-1 Parasnath. Their working hours were between 8:30a.m. to 6:00p.m. He has deposed that the deceased and the Appellant used to sleep on the fifth floor after their work was over. On 25.09.2014, after having dinner, the Appellant and the deceased went to sleep on the fifth floor. On the next day, till about 9:30a.m. both of th