IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 18TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2019 BEFORE:
THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.N.PHANEENDRA CRIMINAL PETITION NO.7394/2019 BETWEEN:
MR. R.NAGESH, S/O. MR. RANGASWAMAIAH, AGED 49 YEARS, RESIDING AT:
NO.23/3, 5TH ‘A’ CROSS, NEAR AVALAHALLI BDA PARK, BYATARAYANAPURA NEW EXTN., BANGALORE-560 026. ... PETITIONER [BY SRI. I.S.PRAMOD CHANDRA, ADVOCATE] AND:
STATE OF KARNATAKA, BY BYATARAYANAPURA POLICE, BANGALORE.
THROUGH THE STATE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, HIGH COURT BUILDINGS, DR. AMBEDKAR VEEDHI, BANGALORE-560 001. ... RESPONDENT [BY SRI. HONNAPPA, HCGP] * * * THIS CRIMINAL PETITION IS FILED UNDER SECTION 439 OF CR.P.C. PRAYING TO ENLARGE THE PETITIONER ON BAIL IN CR. NO.275/2019 OF BYATARAYANAPURA POLICE STATION, BENGALURU CITY FOR THE OFFENCE P/U/S 302 R/W SEC. 34 OF IPC.
THIS CRIMINAL PETITION COMING ON FOR ORDERS, THIS DAY, THE COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING:
ORDER Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned HCGP for the respondent-State. Perused the records.
2. The petitioner is arraigned as accused No.1 in Crime No.275/2019 of Byatarayanapura P.S., Bengaluru, for the offence under Section 302 r/w. 34 of IPC.
3. The brief facts of the case are that;
The complainant Jayamma is none other than mother of accused No.1 and wife of deceased Rangaswamaiah lodged a complaint stating that on 24.7.2019, in the morning hours at about 6.30 a.m., her maid servant came near the house of the daughter of the complainant and informed that she has visited the house of the deceased, but nobody has opened the door. Immediately the complainant went to the house and saw that the door was locked from out side and she opened the lock and entered the house and found her husband Rangaswamy was lying on the cot with bleeding injuries to his head and he was unconscious. Thereafter he was shifted to Gayathri Nursing Home, Vijayanagar and later to BGS hospital, Kengeri and kept in the ICU, later on he died on 17.08.2019. She has made allegations that in the same house in the second floor the accused persons are residing and accused No.1 is no other than the son of the complainant and the deceased. Accused No.2 is the wife of accused No.1 and accused Nos.3 and 4 are the son and daughter of accused No.1. It appears that there was a civil dispute between the parties in O.S. No.1924/2014, which was posted for evidence and the deceased was the main witness in the said case. In order to prevent him from giving evidence in the case, hatched a plan to eliminate the deceased. It is alleged that on 23.7.2019, all the accused persons went to the house of the deceased and assaulted him and committed his murder. On the above said allegations, a case has been registered and police are investigating the matter. Accused No.1 has been arrested in this context. The entire case revolves around the circumstantial evidence.
4. After considering even the voluntary statement of the petitioner/accused No.1, this Court has enlarged the other accused on bail by Order dated 31.10.2019 passed in Crl.P. No.7041/2019. Further added to the above, the material stated before the Court shows that there was a long standing property dispute between the deceased and the complainant and in fact, some properties have been given away in favour of accused No.4-N.Chaitrashri by deceased Rangaswamaiah. During his lifetime, he alleged that the complainant herself was demanding for that particular property. It is the case of the prosecution that the petitioner and the deceased were residing separately. However, the petitioner was also having the keys of the house in which the deceased was residing and it is also the case that the wife of the accused was also having the keys of the house with her. On the particular day, even as per the complaint, the wife of the accused went to the house, opened the door lock and entered the house and found that the injured Rangaswamaiah was inside the house and thereafter, he was shifted to the hospital. Later he died in the hospital.
5. There are no eye-witnesses to the incident. Only on the basis of the circumstances that the wife of deceased Rangaswamaiah as well as the petitioner having the keys of the particular house in which the deceased was sleeping on that particular day, the case has been registered against this petitioner. Therefore, the entire case has to be thrashed out during the course of full fledge trial in order to ascertain who is the exact culprit. As the other accused persons were already released on bail by this Court, I am of the opinion that the petitioner is also entitled for grant of bail on same conditions:
ORDER The petition is allowed. Consequently, the petitioner shall be released on bail in connection with Crime No.275/2019 of Byatrayanapura Police Station, Bengaluru City for the offence under Section 302 r/w. Section 34 of IPC., subject to the following conditions:
i) The petitioner shall execute his personal bond for a sum of Rs.1,00,000/- [Rupees One Lakh only] with two sureties for the likesum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional Court.
ii) The petitioner shall not indulge in tampering the prosecution witnesses.
iii) The petitioner shall appear before the jurisdictional Court on all the future hearing dates unless exempted by the Court for any genuine cause.
iv) The petitioner shall not leave the jurisdiction of the trial Court without prior permission of the Court till the case registered against him is disposed off.
Sd/- JUDGE Ksm*