Bombay High Court

STATE OF MAHARASHTRAversusRAMESHANNA SIDRAMAPPA PATIL

Disposal: Disposed Off

Holding

The trial court's acquittal is upheld; no ground exists to grant leave to appeal.

Summary

The State of Maharashtra filed an application for leave to appeal against the acquittal of Rameshanna Sidramappa Patil by the Additional Sessions Judge, Solapur. The State contended that the trial court erred in disregarding the confession of co‑accused Pradeep and that there was sufficient evidence to sustain a charge of criminal conspiracy under Section 120B IPC. The respondent argued that none of the prosecution witnesses corroborated the case and that the trial court correctly found no evidence of conspiracy. The court examined the trial judge’s consideration of the confession and concluded that the evidence on record did not establish the alleged conspiracy. Consequently, the court dismissed the State’s application for leave to appeal and disposed of the interim application.

Issues considered

Whether the trial court erred in its appreciation of the confession of co‑accused Pradeep.
Whether there is sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code against the respondent.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860 — s. 120B, 302, 307, 34
Maharashtra Police Act — s. 135

Subjects

acquittal
leave to appeal
confession
criminal conspiracy
evidence appraisal
IPC Section 120B
criminal appeal

Judgment

8-ALSST-23309-2024.doc

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIRCUIT BENCH AT KOLHAPUR
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO
APPEAL(STATE) (ST) NO. 23309 OF 2024
WITH
INTERIM APPLICATION NO. 5197 OF 2024

State of Maharashtra ...Applicant.
Versus
Rameshanna Sidramappa Patil ...Respondent.

——————
Mr. Anand S. Shalgaonkar, APP, for the Applicant-State.
Mr. Priyal Sarda with Mr. Ritesh Thobde & Mr. Omkar Bajaj, for the Respondent.
Ms. Ratna Sapkale, Police Inspector, CID, Pune is present.
——————
Coram : Sharmila U. Deshmukh &
Neeraj P. Dhote, JJ.
Date : September 24, 2026.
P. C. :

1. This is an application for leave to appeal by the State against the

Judgment and order dated 16th February 2024 passed by the learned

Additional Sessions Judge, Solapur in Session Case No.277 of 2023.

2. It is submitted by learned APP for the Respondent-State that the

learned trial Court has committed an error in appreciating the evidence

on record and, therefore, this Application for leave to appeal. He

submits that one of the co-accused-Pradeep has given confession, which

should have been considered by the learned trial Court. He fairly

Gaikwad RD 1 of 5
8-ALSST-23309-2024.doc

submits that the co-accused, who were tried and convicted by the

learned trial Court, came to be acquitted by this Court in Criminal

Appeal No.318, 325 and 335 of 2020 by Judgment and Order dated 23 rd

August 2022.

3. It is submitted by learned counsel for the Respondent that, none

of the witnesses examined by the prosecution has supported the case.

The learned trial Court has appreciated the evidence on record and

passed the order of acquittal. He submits that the role attributed to the

Respondents is that of conspirator. He further submits that, the actual

assailant are acquitted by this Court in the aforesaid appeal.

4. The prosecution case as seen from the Judgment of this Court in

the aforesaid criminal appeal is reproduced below :

“It is the prosecution case that on 13 th October 2014, the

informant-Shivling Shankar Parshetti had gone to Solapur on an

Activa Motorcycle bearing No. MH-13/BC-5556, belonging to

Gurunath Jagdev Katare (deceased). At about 4:00 p.m, the

informant met Gurunath (deceased) and Santosh Reddy near

Lokmangal Bank, Solapur. Gurunath (deceased) is stated to have

told the informant to accompany him to his field. Accordingly, both,

are stated to have gone to the field and returned at about 6:30 p.m,

near Lokmangal Bank. It is further the prosecution case, that they

Gaikwad RD 2 of 5
8-ALSST-23309-2024.doc

went near Nabilal Nadaf Canteen at Gharkul Chowk, Santosh

Tirshetti, Lingu Birajdar and Sidharam Zagalghante from Village

Kumbhaji came there; and that they all had tea and discussed about

the election.

According to the prosecution, at about 10:00 p.m, the

informant and Gurunath (deceased) proceeded towards their houses

on Activa; that Nabilal Nadaf followed them on the motorcycle; that

while they were proceeding on the kachcha road, near Macheli

Spinning Mills, three persons came from the opposite side; that one

of the said person was wearing black pant and white shirt, had

wrapped his face with a black cloth and was having a sword in his

hand; that the other two persons were standing behind him; that the

person having a sword came running towards the informant and

Gurunath (deceased); that while attempting to escape, the vehicle

slipped and the informant and Gurunath (deceased) fell down; that

the informant, in the headlights of the Activa and motorcycle, saw

that all the assailants were having swords and that they were

assaulting Gurunath (deceased) and Nabilal Nadaf with the said

swords; that the informant ran towards the house of Gurunath

(deceased), which was about half a kilometer away from the spot,

and informed the family members about the said assault; that, on

Gaikwad RD 3 of 5
8-ALSST-23309-2024.doc

hearing the same, the informant and others rushed towards the spot

of incident and found Gurunath (deceased) and Nabilal Nadaf lying

in an injured condition. Both the injured were shifted to Solapur

Hospital. It appears, that when the informant, with his other friend

Ravi, went to the hospital, they learnt that Gurunath Katare had

succumbed to the injuries.

The informant, thereafter, lodged a report on 13 th October

2014 with the Valsang Police Station. On the basis of the report,

C.R.No.160/2014 was registered for the alleged offences punishable

under Sections 302 and 307 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code and

under Section 135 of the Maharashtra Police act, against three

unknown persons. Investigation commenced. Thereafter,

investigation was transferred to State CID. During investigation, 10

mobile numbers were intercepted. On the basis of the same, i.e.

conversation, the involvement of present appellants in the offence,

was revealed. Pursuant to which, the appellants were arrested and

weapons were recovered at the instance of the appellants.

Confessional statement of accused No.3-Pradeep @ Deepak

Mathpati was recorded before the Judicial Magistrate.

After completion of investigation, charge-sheet was filed

against the appellants in the Court of Judicial Magistrate, First

Gaikwad RD 4 of 5
8-ALSST-23309-2024.doc

Class, Akkalkot. As the offence under Section 302 of the Indian

Penal Code, was exclusively triable by the Court of Sessions, the case

was committed to the Court of Sessions, for trial.”

5. As regard the contention made by learned APP in respect of the

confession by Pradeep, the observation in paragraph Nos. 32 to 35

shows that the learned trial Court has considered the said peace of

material. The observation in the Judgment by the learned trial Court

shows that, it has considered the evidence available on record and

observed that there was no evidence on record to establish the offence

punishable under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code against the

Respondents. Undisputedly, the co-accused to whom the role of assault

was attributed, were tried and came to be acquitted by this Court in the

aforesaid appeal. In this view of the matter we find no ground to grant

leave to appeal. Hence, the order

ORDER

i) The Application for leave to appeal against acquittal is

dismissed.

ii) Consequently, the interim application does not survive and

stands disposed of.

[Neeraj P. Dhote, J.] [Sharmila U. Deshmukh, J.]
Digitally
signed by
RAJU
RAJU DATTATRAYA
DATTATRAYA GAIKWAD
GAIKWAD Date:
2026.09.28
10:17:57

5 of 5
+0530
Gaikwad RD

Continue reading with your account

Checking your session…