PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa has upheld the life sentence of Osban Fernandes and Ramesh Bhagve alias Maratho, who were convicted in a case of double murder, and the abduction and attempted murder of the deceased couple’s two minor children in 2013.
The accused had challenged the verdict into the murder of labourer Shivaji Naik, contending that it was a case of causing grievous hurt or culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The case pertains to the killing of Shivaji at Merces, three days before the accused killed his wife Sujata and attempted to kill their minor children through strangulation. The accused are already sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment in the second FIR, booked for murdering Sujata.
The survivors, who became one of key witnesses in the case, were rescued by a Verna resident who found them at Anmod Ghat and handed them over to the police.
Despite the accused's arguments in the present appeal challenging the sentence in the Shivaji murder case, the High Court rejected their contentions observing that the evidence indicated Shivaji was bound with a rope, rendering him helpless and unable to escape. Subsequently, both accused “rained several blows with the help of danda/bamboo across Shivaji’s entire body including vital spots such as the head, chest and the ribcage.”
Admitting all the evidence including CCTV footage, the Bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice Valmiki Menezes dismissed the appeals.
