Babu
Kuttan R.Pillai & ANR Vs. State of Maharashtra [2000] INSC 673 (15 December
2000)
S.S.M.Quadri,
D.P.Mohapatro
L.I.T.J
D.P.
MOHAPATRA,J This appeal, filed by accused no.1 Babu Kuttan Ramkrishna Pillai
and accused no.2 Umesh @ Babu Purshottam
Bhatt
of TADA ACT Spl.Case No.33 of 1994, is directed
against
the judgment and order dated 21.8.1998 of the Designated Court at Brihan `Mumbai under the Terrorist and Disruptive
Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (for short TADA Act). In the said case seven
accused persons faced trial under Section 120-B read with 307 r/w 34, 307 r/w
114, 307 r/w 149, 387 r/w 34, 143, 144, 147, 148 and 506 (ii), 353 r/w 114 of
the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3(2)(ii), 3(3), 3(5), 5 and 6 of the TADA
Act and section r/w 25(IB) (a), Section 5 r/w 27 of the Arms Act. The gist of
the prosecution case relevant for the purpose of this proceeding may be stated
thus: With the growth of industry, commerce and trade in and around the city of
Mumbai which generates substantial quantity of wealth, there has been increase
of organised activities by gangs of anti-socials to extract money from affluent
sections of society like developers, hoteliers and other businessmen by putting
them in fear of death and then to demand substantial sums of money commonly
known as "Khadani" i.e. protection money. One such gang was operating
in the city under Amar Naik @ Bhai, who died a couple of years before the
decision in the case at an encounter with the police. The prosecution alleged
that in pursuance of a criminal conspiracy between 15.1.1994 to 16.5.1994 the
accused persons and others of the gang embarked upon preparatory acts like
procuring the information about the names of the builders of M/s Kalpataru
Construction Company which was engaged in developing a property at Pali Hill,
named Nakshatra Building. PW-7 Sudhir Tambe was the Senior Vice-President of the
company with its head office at Nariman Point. He used to sit in the head-
office. PW 6 Pachapur, Civil Engineer, was an employee of the company who used
to remain at the site to supervise the construction. As the prosecution story
runs, on 15.4.1994 between 11.30 a.m. and 12.00 noon while PW 6 was on duty at
the construction site, accused no.3, Nitin Vasant Venugurlekar armed with
revolver and accused No.4 Rajindera @ Rajan Mahadeo Margaj armed with a chopper
and accused no.5 Jayendra @ Jai Anandrao Jadhav also armed with a chopper
visited the site of Nakshatra Building; they threatened the workers at the
site, forcibly brought PW 6 Pachapur in a room on the ground floor and
man-handled him.
Accused
no.3, pointing a revolver at him demanded the name, address and telephone
number of the builders. PW 6 disclosed the name of PW 7 Tambe and gave his telephone
number to them. The accused then asked him to go to the office of the builders
at Nariman Point and make the arrangement for a telephonic talk with Tambe. PW
6 rushed to the office and told Tambe of what had happened at the construction
site. This was followed by telephonic calls from the accused who wanted to
speak to Tambe. Attempts were made by PW 6 and PW 7 to avoid any discussion
with the gangsters. Two or three days thereafter when the accused got Tambe on
the telephone he (Tambe) gave them some other telephone numbers and asked them
to contact those persons including one D.N.Ghosh, the Security Contractor.
Eight/ten days thereafter again a telephone call was made to the office of
Tambe which was received by PW 6 who was informed by the person making the call
that they could not get D. N.
Ghosh
on the telephone numbers furnished by Tambe.
Thereafter
PW 6 handed over the receiver to Tambe. This incident was followed by several
threats given by the gangsters to workers and also repeated telephone calls
made to the Head Office of the company to contact Tambe. The staff of the site
office absented from work resulting in virtual closure of construction
activity. On 11.5.1994 the deceased Sanjay Patil telephoned to Tambe and warned
him that he is wasting time and should meet him without further delay. After
some days there was one more similar call from Sanjay Patil and he asked Tambe
that he should talk to Bhai and saying so he handed over the receiver to
another person who gave his identity as Amar Naik (since deceased), who told
Tambe that he should pay Rs.10 lacs. The later pleaded his inability to pay
such a heavy sum and after some discussion agreed to pay Rs.5 lacs. He was
asked to come to Nakshatra Building site on 16.5.1994 along with money. In the meantime Tambe
informed all the happenings to the Addl.
Commissioner
of Police Mr.Sanjeev Dayal and the then Dy.
Commissioner
of Police of Zone VII Mr. Rajanish Sheth within whose jurisdiction Khar Police
Station fell.
On
16.5.1994 at about 12.00
noon the deceased
Sanjay Patil telephoned Tambe and inquired from him as to what he was going to
do about the payment and then Tambe replied that he will be leaving office at
about 2.00 p.m. for Pali Hill. Sanjay Patil
cautioned him that he should not make any haste and he should wait for his call
so that he will take necessary instructions from his boss i.e. Amar Naik.
At
about 2.00 p.m. on that day there was a telephone
call from Sanjay Patil telling that Tambe should not meet him at the Nakshatra Building site but instead he should meet him near the Ceaser Palace
Hotel. This telephonic conversation was tape-recorded. Tambe was instructed on
telephone that his man shall carry a white plastic bag containing the amount of
Rs.5 lacs and shall wait near the entrance gate of Ceaser Palace Hotel and the
person coming to collect the said bag will introduce himself as Me Rawanacha
Manus Hai.
Tambe
informed to the DCP all these happenings and handed over the tape in which the
telephonic conversation was recorded by him. The DCP had made the arrangements
to keep a regular watch near the building site. PW 1 Sunil Deshmukh was
deployed to wait in cognito near the gate of the Ceaser Palace Hotel and to
carry the white plastic bag containing bundles of papers which would give an
appearance like the bundles of currency notes. The other officers, who were
also in cognito, had taken their position at strategic points near the hotel.
At about 4.05 p.m. Sunil Deshmukh noticed that one red
coloured Maruti van halted in front of the Ceaser Palace Hotel. He noticed
three persons getting down from the said van. Those three persons were coming
in his direction, and the van went ahead 50 to 60 feets and halted there. The
deceased Sanjay Patil and the accused no.7 Bapu Sidhram Gaikwad got down from
the said van and accused no.6 Mohamed Ismail was sitting on the driver seat in
the van. The three accused persons i.e. accused no.1 Babu Kuttan Pillai,
accused No.2 Umesh @ Babu Bhatt and the absconding accused Ramchandra Negi
approached PW 1. He enquired from PW1 about his identity and when PW 1 replied
that he has been sent by Tambe Sahib. PW 1 Sunil Deshmukh then asked that
person who are you (Tum Kaun Hai) and then the accused no.2 Umesh Bhatt told
him that Hum Rawan Ke Aadmi Hai. Thereafter accused no.1 Babu Kuttan extended
his hand towards PW 1 who delivered the bag to him. At this juncture the police
officers who were standing nearby in cognito rushed to the place and surrounded
the three persons. When the police officers were trying to overpower them the
deceased Sanjay Patil @ Avinash Amanna and the accused no .7 Bapu Sidhram
Gaikwad came forward with revolvers in their hands and threatened the police
party by saying they should leave their men or else the policemen will be
killed. Saying so they fired in the direction of the police party. At this
point PW 1 took out his revolver and pointed it in the direction of the accused
and told them we are all policemen and you should throw away your revolvers
else we will fire. Even then the accused persons fired some rounds in the
direction of the police party, then PW 1 and one other officer tried to rush
towards them but they sat in the said Maruti van and sped away from the place.
After
the situation calmed down, the police drew the panchnamas Ex.22 in presence of
some witnesses and conducted personal search of the three culprits. On such
search accused no.1 Babu Kuttan Pillai was found to possess the plastic bag
containing the paper bundles (Art.1), accused no.2 Umesh Bhatt was found to
possess a big Rampuri knife which was hidden at the waist under the pant by
left side.
After
completion of investigation the police submitted the charge-sheet. The three
persons at the spot were remanded to the police custody. Subsequently, the
other accused persons were also arrested. They were put to test identification
parade. The learned Trial Judge on appreciation of the evidence on record
convicted accused no.1 Babu Kuttan Ramkrishna Pillai and the accused no.2 Umesh
@ Babu Purshottam Bhatt for the offence punishable under section 395 of the
Indian Penal Code and sentenced each of them to suffer rigorous imprisonment of
5 years and to pay a fine of Rs.500, in default of payment of fine to undergo
further Rigorous Imprisonment for 6 months. They were also convicted under
Section 120 B of the IPC but no separate sentence was passed. They were
acquitted of the other offences with which they were charged. The remaining
accused persons i.e. accused nos. 3,4,5,6 and 7 were acquitted of all the
charges framed against them. Accused nos. 1 and 2, have filed this appeal
assailing the judgment passed by the Designated Court at Brihan Mumbai, convicting/sentencing them as above.
On a
reading of the judgment under challenge, we find that the learned trial Judge
has considered the entire case led by the prosecution in great detail and after
discussing the charges framed against the appellants under sections 3(2), 3(3)
and 3(5) of TADA Act, rejected the prosecution case on that count. Thereafter
the learned trial Judge in paragraph 17 onwards considered the question of what
offence was made out against the appellants. After a detailed discussion of the
relevant evidence placed by the prosecution and after examining it in the light
of the contentions on behalf of the defence, the learned trial Judge believed
the testimony of PW 1- Sunil Deshmukh, PW 7 - Tambe and PW 9 - L.J. Kamble and
came to hold that the appellants are guilty of the offence of criminal
conspiracy punishable under section 120-B and the offence of dacoity punishable
under section 395 IPC and convicted them thereunder and imposed the punishment
as noted earlier.
We
have perused the evidence of these witnesses. We do not find that the
appreciation of evidence made by the learned trial Judge suffers from any
illegality nor can findings recorded by him be said to be perverse. The learned
trial Judge has given cogent reasons for accepting the evidence lead by the
prosecution against the appellants and for rejecting the contentions raised by
the defence. We are not satisfied that the judgment of the learned trial Judge
calls for interference by this Court. Accordingly the appeal is dismissed.
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