Panaji: The Bombay high court has quashed charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and destruction of evidence against Abhijeet Desai in his cousin’s death during hunting in 2025.The court refused to interfere with the framing of charges under the Arms Act, 1958, against Desai, stating that issues of possession, use, and procurement of a firearm must be determined at trial based on evidence and supporting documents.Desai, through his advocate Vibhav Amonkar, went to the HC challenging the framing of charges against him.A complaint was filed at Valpoi police station by Balasaheb Desai stating that on April 10, 2025, his nephew Hemant Desai went hunting with his relative Abhijeet. He stated that Hemant had arranged an illegal, loaded gun, which accidentally discharged during hunting, causing fatal chest injuries, after which he was declared dead.The court held that there was no intention of Abhijeet to cause the death of Hemant or cause bodily injury which is likely to cause death. The medical evidence also does not support the case of culpable homicide, the court noted.The court observed that the section on destruction of evidence was neither invoked in the FIR nor chargesheet by the prosecution, but applied by the trial court for the first time, reasoning that shifting the deceased’s body from the incident site amounted to destruction of evidence.“While making this observation, the sessions judge seems to have lost sight of the fact that the deceased received serious gunshot injuries to his chest. Statements of the witnesses who were present indicate that after the body of the deceased was brought down from the jamun tree where he was shot, they rushed him to CHC Valpoi for medical treatment. Thus, the shifting of the dead body of the deceased was only to administer emergency medical aid, which was the most natural thing to be done at that point in time,” stated Justice Ashish S Chavan.
