IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 11TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2019 BEFORE THE HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE K. N. PHANEENDRA CRIMINAL PETITION NO.7515/2019 C/W CRIMINAL PETITION NO.7521/2019 IN CRL.P. NO.7515/2019 Between Krishna S/o Lakshamanappa T.R. Aged about 36 years, Occ: Contractor, R/o Ambedkar Circle, Manjunatha Extension, Purale, Shivamogga Taluk – 577 201.
(By Sri.P.B.Umesh, Advocate for Sri.R.B.Deshpande, Advocate) And The State of Karnataka by Vinobanagar Police Station, Shivamogga – 577 201.
(By Sri.Honnappa, HCGP) ... Petitioner ... Respondent This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 438 of Cr.P.C praying to enlarge the petitioner on bail in the event of his arrest in Cr.No.77/2019 of Vinobanagara Police Station, Shivamogga for the offence punishable under Sections 143, 144, 147, 148, 120-B, 302 read with 149 of IPC and etc.
IN CRL.P.NO.7521/2019 Between 1. Avinash K. @ Kwater S/o Rajappa, Aged about 24 years, Occ: labourer, R/o Ambedkar Circle, Near Durgamma Temple, Old Purale, Shivamogga – 577 201.
2. Srikantha @ Kantha S/o Prakash, Aged about 20 years, Occ: labourer R/o Ambedkar Circle, Near Durgamma Temple, Old Purale, Shivamogga – 577 201.
3. Shankara P S/o Late Pandu, Aged about 23 years, Occ: labourer, Manjunatha Extension, Shivamogga – 577 201.
4. Sharath Kumar K @ Sharu @ Sharath S/o Keshavamurthy V, Aged about 23 years, Occ: Plumber, R/o 6th Cross, Ashoknagar, Shivamogga – 577 201.
5. Praveen Kumar @ Alilu @ Praveena S/o H.N. Shivashankar, Aged about 22 years, Occ: labourer, Siddeshwaranagar, Chikkal, 4th Cross, Shivamogga – 577 201.
(By Sri.P.B.Umesh, Advocate for Sri.R.B.Deshpande, Advocate) And The State of Karnataka by Vinobanagar Police Station, Shivamogga – 577 201.
(Represented by State Public Prosecutor, High Court Buildings, Bengaluru – 560 001) (By Sri.Honnappa, HCGP) ... Petitioners ... Respondent This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C praying to enlarge the petitioner on bail in Cr.No.77/2019 of Vinobanagar Police Station, Shivamogga for the offence punishable under Sections 143, 144, 147, 148, 120-B, 302, 115, 427 read with 149 of IPC and etc.
These Criminal Petitions coming on for Orders this day, the Court made the following:
ORDER Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned HCGP for the respondent – State in both cases. Perused the records.
2. The petitioner in Criminal Petition No.7515/2019 is arraigned as accused No.10 and the petitioners in Criminal Petition No.7521/2019 are arraigned as accused Nos.3 to 7 in Crime No.77/2019 of Vinobanagar Police Station, Shivamogga for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 144, 147, 148, 120-B, 302, 115, 427 read with Section 149 of Indian Penal Code, have filed the above said petitions for grant of bail under Sections 438 and 439 of Cr.P.C.
3. The brief factual matrix as could be seen from the entire charge sheet papers are that accused Nos.1 to 11 have got some previous hatred and ill-will against the deceased – Praveena @ Kabab Praveena in respect of previous murder of one Madhu, who is the brother of one of the accused persons during Ganapathi Procession in Shivmogga. In this context, it is alleged that all the accused persons have hatched conspiracy in pursuance of murder on 12.04.2019. The accused Nos.1 & 2 have directed accused No.9 to watch the whereabouts and movements of the deceased Praveena @ Kabab Praveena. On that particular day, at about 3.30 p.m., accused No.9 telephoned accused No.1 stating that the deceased Praveena @ Kabab Praveena was proceeding towards Sominakoppa. After hearing the same, accused No.1 went to his house and brought six long choppers in the motorcycle belonging to accused No.10 and he secured the presence of accused Nos.3 to 6 and also accused No.7 and they proceeded towards Sominakoppa. They observed the deceased was proceeding on the said road and accused No.9 was following him, then accused No.1 told accused No.9 to go to the spot and wait there. Thereafter, accused Nos.1 and 2 to 6 taken one long each and told accused Nos.7 and 8 to go behind in their car and thereafter, helped them. By saying so, accused Nos.1 to 6 followed the said Praveena @ Kabab Praveena and dashed their car to the motorcycle and the said Praveena @ Kabab Praveena fell down and accused Nos.1 to 6 have merciless assaulted the deceased with long choppers, knife etc., Accused Nos.7 and 8 were standing at a distance and was waiting and observing that whether any public are coming to that particular place. On these allegations, the police have completed the investigation and filed charge sheet.
4. During the course of investigation, the police have recorded the statement of C.Ws.2 and 3 who are the eye witnesses to the incident. They have categorically identified the accused Nos.1 to 6 in the identification parade and stated about the overt acts of the accused Nos.1 to 6, 7 and 8 etc., 5. On careful perusal of the entire materials on record, it reveals that there are serious allegations against the petitioners i.e., accused Nos.3 to 6. There are no such allegations against accused No.7 that he was actually standing at a distance watching the public. Whether he also contributed his intention to do away with the life of the deceased has to be decided during the course of the trial. Therefore, in Criminal Petition No.7521/2019, accused No.7 i.e., petitioner No.5 is only entitled to be enlarged on bail as there are serious allegations about their overt acts and their presence and death of the deceased and also considering the Post Mortem Examination Report, which corresponds the injuries mentioned in the eye witnesses statement, in my opinion, petitioner Nos.1 to 4 who are cited as accused Nos.3 to 6 are not entitled to be enlarged on bail. Hence, the following;
ORDER IN CRL.P.NO.7521/2019 The Criminal Petition No.7521/2019 is partly allowed. The petition in so far as accused Nos.3, 4 5 and 6 (petitioner Nos.1 to 4) stands dismissed.
The petitioner No.5 (accused No.7) shall be enlarged on bail in connection with Crime No.77/2019 of Vinobanagar Police Station on the file of JMFC, II Court, Shivamogga for the alleged offences subject to the following conditions:-
i) The petitioner No.5 (accused No.7) shall execute a personal bond for a sum of R.1,00,000/-(One Lakh only) with two sureties for the like-sum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Court.
ii) The petitioner No.5 (accused No.7) shall not indulge in tampering the prosecution witnesses.
iii) The petitioner No.5 (accused No.7) shall appear before the jurisdictional court on all the future hearing dates unless exempted by the court for any genuine cause.
iv) The petitioner No.5 (accused No.7) shall not leave the jurisdiction of the trial Court without prior permission of the court till the case registered against him is disposed of.
ORDER IN CRL.P.NO.7515/2019 The Criminal Petition No.7515/2019 is allowed.
The petitioner (accused No.10) shall be released on bail in the event of his arrest in connection with Crime No.77/2019 of Vinobanagar Police Station on the file of JMFC, II Court, Shivamogga for the alleged offences subject to the following conditions :-
i. The petitioner (accused No.10) shall surrender himself before the jurisdictional Court within Ten days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order and shall execute his personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh only) with two sureties for the like-sum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Court.
ii. The petitioner (accused No.10) shall not indulge in hampering in investigation or tampering the prosecution witnesses.
iii. The petitioner (accused No.10) shall appear before the jurisdictional court on all the future hearing dates unless exempted by the court for any genuine cause.
iv. The petitioner (accused No.10) shall not leave the jurisdiction of the trial Court without prior permission of the court till the case registered against him is disposed of.
v. The petitioner (accused No.10) shall mark his attendance once in a week i.e., on every Sunday between 10.00 am and 5.00 p.m., before the Investigating Officer for a period of two months for any further investigation in this regard.
Sd/-
JUDGE NBM