Thane, Jul 29 (PTI) A Thane court has sentenced an auto-rickshaw driver to five years' rigorous imprisonment after convicting him for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the death of his brother in 2021.
Principal district and sessions court judge S B Agrawal also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the accused, Mahendra Sadashiv Kardak (59) in the order on July 25, a copy of which was made available on Monday.
According to the prosecution, the accused stabbed his brother Anand Kardak and also injured the wife of his another brother with a kitchen knife following a property-related dispute at Wagle Estate in Maharashtra's Thane city on January 6, 2021.
During the trial, the accused's counsel argued that he acted in self-defense.
The court noted the victims had come to claim the property and apart from pushing, the accused had not attributed anything else to them.
"It is borne out from the material that the accused himself got a knife and assaulted both the victims," the judge observed.
The accused "can certainly be said to have been deprived of the power of self control by the sudden provocation, resulting him to proceed with the assault", the court said.
There was no pre-meditation on the part of accused and certainly it was a sudden fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel," it said.
"There was no intention on the part of the accused of causing death or of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death. But certainly he had a knowledge at the time of assault about the same," the court said.
In such circumstances, instead of offence under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, the accused shall be liable to be convicted under IPC section 304 part II (culpable homicide not not amounting to murder), it said.
The court acquitted the accused of the charge under IPC section 307 for attempt to murder his sister-in-law, the informant in the case.
Although the doctor mentions that the informant was admitted in hospital for five days, neither the discharge papers nor treatment papers are produced on record, it said.
"Considering the overall history of the matter, an attempt to over implicate the accused cannot be ruled out. In such circumstances, it cannot be said that an offence under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC has been made out beyond reasonable doubt," it said.
The court directed that the fine amount of Rs 1 lakh imposed on the accused be paid to the immediate legal heir of the deceased upon due verification.