9911796707
TMI Blog1997 (5) TMI 52X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 992, the Custom Officers intercepted a ship called Safina- Al-Burhani and upon search thereof recovered five belts of gold biscuits of foreign origin. During interrogation, Abbas Hasan Subhaniya, the tandel of the said ship, disclosed that Harun Jusab Bhaya (A-8) was to receive the delivery of the said gold biscuits. The Custom Officers then decided to apprehend A-8 and for that a team of Custom Inspectors along with three sepoys went to Khambhalia in a jeep which was driven by Chuni Lal Barad (PW 46). The Custom Officers came to the office of Brother & Brother Transport at Khambhalia where they spotted A-8 and informed him that he was being arrested in connection with smuggling of gold. A-8 then started running away but the Custom Officers ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... In the meantime , police officers reached the place of incident and thereafter the injured were removed to the hospital. At about 8.30 p.m., an FIR was lodged by Mr. P.N. Desai (PW 1) in the police station. After completing the investigation, a charge sheet for offences punishable under Sections 147, 302/149, 307/149, 332, 333/149 of the Indian Penal Code as also under Section 3(a) of the Demolition of Public Property Act and under Sections 3 and 4 of TADA came to be submitted in the Court of Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Khambhalia against the appellant and seven other accused persons. The case was then committed for trial to the Designated Court for the aforesaid offences. 4.The appellant and other seven accused persons denied the char ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... onviction and sentence of A-8. Rest of the accused persons were, however, acquitted of all the charges. The appellant aggrieved by this order of conviction and sentence has filed this appeal to this Court under Section 19 of the TADA. 7.At the outset, it may be stated that it is not and cannot be disputed that two sepoys of Customs Department, namely, Mahindersinh and Somaji Thakor died in the incident in question. Both of them were crushed to death because of the dash given by the truck bearing registration No. GTE-7461. It is, therefore, needless to refer to the medical evidence on record. In addition to these two unnatural deaths, P.N. Desai (PW 1) and Jacob (PW 2) were also injured in the same incident. No sustainable arguments were ad ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gainst them, they all fell down and the head of Mahindersinh was crushed. The truck thereafter went ahead and dashed against the electric pole and thereafter it came in reverse. Seeing this incident, Somaji who was sitting in the jeep, got down and ran towards the road side. At that time, the truck took a turn and came in speed and dashed against Somaji. On both these occasions, he saw the appellant being the driver of the truck from a distance of 80-100 feet. The defence although cross-examined the witness at great length but there is hardly any material brought out during cross-examination which could discredit his testimony. We have carefully gone through the evidence of this witness and we see no hesitation to accept his evidence being ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the appellant despite his efforts could not persuade us to disbelieve the evidence of these two witnesses. The trial court, in our opinion, has rightly believed the evidence of these two witnesses. The evidence of both these witnesses has clearly established that the appellant has intentionally caused the deaths of Mahindersinh and Somaji Thakor. The conviction of the appellant passed under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, therefore, does not suffer from any infirmity. The learned Advocate for the appellant was unable to point out any error in the impugned judgment as regards the convictions of the appellant passed on other counts. Thus, this appeal is devoid of any merit. 10.For the foregoing conclusions, we see no merit in this app ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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