A Dindoshi sessions court on Thursday rejected the bail plea of 60-year-old retired police constable Gulab Galande accused of killing his own son, also a constable, as it found that there is “high possibility” of his tampering with eye-witnesses who are family members.
As per the police complaint lodged at Powai police station, the man had killed his alcoholic son Harish by assaulting him with a sickle on his head two to three times during a scuffle that broke out at home.
Three of his family members - his wife, his daughter-in-law, who is the wife of the deceased and another son - are eye-witnesses in the case. The deceased would allegedly abuse family members in an inebriated state and had flung a beer bottle at his father when the latter had tried to intervene to save Harish's wife from his assault.
Additional Sessions Judge SU Baghele said in his order that there is direct evidence against the applicant and as all three eye-witnesses are family members of the applicant, there is every likelihood of the applicant tampering with the evidence, by influencing them, either by coercion or on account of emotional attachment.
“In this backdrop, considering the gravity of the crime as well as the high possibility of tampering with the witnesses, the applicant does not deserve to be enlarged on bail,” the court said.
The applicant Gulab Galande had sought bail on the grounds that statements of the eye-witnesses were recorded after a month of the alleged incident. His advocate also argued that a father will not kill his own son and that Galande has no criminal antecedents.
