<p>The Sessions Court, Mumbai, convicted Vishwajit Ranka Nahar alias Nahak under Section 307 of the IPC for attempt to murder and imposed a Rs 10,000 fine. He will face an additional year in <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/maharashtra-plans-high-rise-prison-in-mankhurd-to-combat-overcrowding-23355121" rel="nofollow">prison </a>if he fails to pay the fine.</p>
<h2>The case in numbers</h2>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Particulars</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><strong>Details</strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Date of assault</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">October 14, 2020</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Dispute</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rs 12 vada pav</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Victim</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Somashekhar Raju Shetty</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Accused</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Vishwajit Ranka Nahar, 24</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Injury</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">10 cm &times; 6 cm neck wound</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Sentence</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">10 years&rsquo; rigorous imprisonment</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Fine</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rs 10,000</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Victim compensation</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rs 8,000</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p><strong>Time in custody before conviction</strong></p>
</td>
<td>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nearly six years</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2>How the quarrel turned violent</h2>
<p>According to the prosecution, the incident took place around 8 pm at Bhagwati Fast Food Snacks Corner, Kanjurmarg.<br />&nbsp;<br />Nahar allegedly ordered a <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-crime-news/article/mumbai-murder-suicide-19-year-old-man-allegedly-kills-wife-later-dies-during-treatment-at-nair-hospital-23648353" rel="nofollow">vadapav </a>after consuming alcohol but refused to pay. He allegedly threw the vadapav at Shetty, abused and threatened him before leaving. About 10-15 minutes later, he allegedly returned with a shaving blade.</p>
<p>He allegedly slashed Shetty&rsquo;s neck and fled. Eatery workers chased and caught him near Mansukh Naka, where a crowd allegedly assaulted him before police arrived.<br />&nbsp;<br />Shetty&rsquo;s wife took him to Aniket Hospital and later to Fortis Hospital.</p>
<h2>The injury that shaped the case</h2>
<p>Medical evidence was central to the court's findings.<br />&nbsp;<br />&bull; 10 cm &times; 6 cm: Size of the cut wound on Shetty&rsquo;s neck<br />&bull; Sternocleidomastoid muscle: Exposed by the wound<br />&bull; Two more centimetres: The surgeon said the injury could have proved fatal if it had extended this much further<br />&nbsp;<br />Dr Ravindra Sawant, who examined Shetty at Fortis Hospital, described the injury as grievous and potentially life-threatening without timely treatment.</p>
<p>Dr Hitesh Singhavi, who performed the surgery, said the wound extended into muscle fibres and tissues and could have been fatal if it had gone another two centimetres.<br />Both doctors said the injury was possible with the <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-crime-news/article/mumbai-man-beaten-to-death-in-goregaon-over-rs-60-hotel-bill-dispute-one-arrested-23644551" rel="nofollow">seized blade</a>.</p>
<h2>Witnesses back victim&rsquo;s account</h2>
<p>Shetty told the court that Nahar suddenly slashed his neck. His wife Vishwalata, who was at the eatery, and employee Laluram Mourya, who later chased the accused, gave similar accounts of the dispute and assault.</p>
<p>The court noted discrepancies in the witnesses&rsquo; statements but held that they were not material enough to weaken the prosecution case. The judge observed that witnesses could not be expected to recount an incident years later &ldquo;in one voice&rdquo; and that minor variations were natural.</p>
<h2>The blade trail</h2>
<p>Pan-shop owner Nateshwar Pujari told the court that Nahar bought a shaving blade from his shop around 8 pm, shortly before the assault. A panch witness also testified that police recovered a Supermax blade near the eatery&rsquo;s wash basin.</p>
<p>The court accepted the evidence linking Nahar to the blade despite the defence pointing out that the blade had no distinctive markings and was commonly available.</p>
<h2>Defence theory rejected</h2>
<p>The defence suggested that Shetty may have accidentally injured himself after being pushed towards the hotel shed. Witnesses denied the suggestion. The defence also questioned the identification of the blade. The court rejected both arguments, relying on the injured victim&rsquo;s testimony, supporting witnesses and medical evidence. There was no CCTV footage from the eatery or its immediate vicinity. The court, however, held that CCTV was not essential because the prosecution had direct eyewitness and medical evidence.</p>
<h2>Threat charge fails</h2>
<p>The court acquitted Nahar under Section 506 of the IPC, which deals with <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-crime-news/article/sindhudurg-murder-case-mumbai-police-solves-four-year-old-accident-case-4-held-for-murder-of-man-23634737" rel="nofollow">criminal intimidation.</a> Although Shetty and his wife alleged that Nahar had threatened them before leaving the eatery, the court noted that neither informed the police about the alleged threats when he left and returned. The prosecution therefore failed to establish the intimidation charge beyond reasonable doubt.</p>
<h2>Why 10 years?</h2>
<p>The court considered Nahar&rsquo;s age, absence of previous convictions, unmarried status and his dependent mother while deciding the sentence. However, it also took into account the seriousness of the offence and the grievous neck injury suffered by Shetty.</p>
<h2>Compensation and set-off</h2>
<p>Of the Rs 10,000 fine, the court directed R8000 to be paid to Shetty as compensation for the physical and mental agony caused by the assault. Nahar was also granted the benefit of set-off for the period already spent in custody. The applicable provision allows pre-conviction detention during the investigation, inquiry or trial to be deducted from the sentence. &nbsp;The court directed that the seized articles be destroyed after the appeal period, subject to the outcome of any appeal.</p>
<h2>Defence Speak</h2>
<p>Samyak Narayan Gimekar, chief Legal Aid Defence Counsel, said, &ldquo;The accused committed the act in anger and under the influence of alcohol. However, during the trial, he expressed remorse for his actions and consistently prayed for leniency. Considering these circumstances, he was awarded the minimum punishment prescribed for the offence. We have preferred an appeal before the High Court and sought bail, as he has completed half of his sentence, and the appeal is unlikely to be heard soon.&rdquo;<br />&nbsp;<br />Advocate Vaidehi Pusalkar, who also assisted the Legal Aid Defence Counsel, said, &ldquo;The court considered the circumstances in which the offence was committed, the accused&rsquo;s remorse and the overall facts before deciding to impose the sentence.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>&lsquo;The last call&rsquo;</h2>
<p>Nahar&rsquo;s younger sister Jyotsana, 26, said the family learnt about the verdict from him about a fortnight ago but has not heard from him since.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I am originally from Odisha. My mother, Jhamgu Nahak (47), and I are now settled in Amroli, Surat, where we work at a garment outlet. My brother, who studied till Class 10 and is lodged at Taloja Jail, informed us about the verdict and 10-year sentence a fortnight ago. Since then, we have neither received a call nor a letter from him.&rdquo;<br />Jyotsana said Nahar left Odisha for Mumbai in 2018 to earn a living and send money home. She said the family learnt about his arrest in 2020 and could not arrange bail because they were poor and had no relatives in Mumbai to help.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Once released after serving his sentence, I will ensure he never returns to Mumbai. He will stay with us.&rdquo;</p>

A Mumbai Sessions Court sentenced a 24-year-old man to 10 years for attempting to murder an eatery worker during a Rs 12 vada pav dispute

Mumbai man gets 10 years for slashing eatery worker’s neck over Rs 12 vada pav

Mumbai Crime Branch arrests two for illegal sale of Nitrazepam tablets, seizes stock worth Rs 64.05 lakh

A Rs 12 dispute over a vada pav ended with a 24-year-old man being sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for slashing the neck of a Kanjurmarg eatery owner in October 2020

Mumbai man gets 10 years for slashing eatery worker’s neck over Rs 12 vada pav dispute

The case in numbers

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