Bombay HC upholds life term to man, 2 friends for killing wife’s ‘lover’

Dilbahadur Khadaka, Jaharsingh Badela and Shankar Gogati were found guilty by a trial court of murder under Section 302 of the IPC. They were sentenced to life imprisonment on August 31, 2009.The HC was informed that Badela’s wife was having an extra-marital affair with Chandrabahadur, and the three men, who were friends, thus hatched a conspiracy to kill him.

On the day they executed the crime, the accused picked the victim from Badela’s house. They took him in a car borrowed from a friend, who became a witness in the case later. At around 2.30 am on February 6, 2007, two policemen on patrolling duty spotted the car parked suspiciously. When they peeped inside, they saw Khadaka and Gogati seated on the front seats of the vehicle. When they checked the backseat of the car, they saw a man lying motionless.

The duo told the policemen that Chandrabhan had drunk a lot the previous night and was under heavy influence of alcohol. On further inquiry, the policemen noticed that Chandrabhan could not stand on his feet, and when he was taken to a hospital, the doctors declared him dead.

Investigations revealed that the victim’s body had 10 injuries besides a ligature mark on his neck. Relying on the policemen’s statements , the HC observed, “Though Chandrabahadur was dead, the accused persons tried to give a false explanation.”

The court further observed that Badela too had been in the car with his friends, and when the policemen spotted them, they had gone out to fetch a mechanic as the car had broken down. This piece of evidence was corroborated with the help of the mechanic’s statement.