Back
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
M.H. BEG AND Y.V. CHANDRACHUD, JJ.
Naseem Ahmed, Appellant
Versus
Delhi Administration, Respondent.
Criminal Appeal No. 80 of 1970, D/- 12-12-1973.
Indian Penal Code, 1860 - Section 302 - Murder Offence - Appeal Against Conviction - Whether circumstances on which prosecution relies are capable of supporting sole inference that appellant is guilty of crime of which he is charged - Whether circumstances established on evidence raise but one inference consistent with guilt of accused, regard must be had to totality of circumstances – Held, Discovery of blood-stained connecting rod from house of appellant s sister - That discovery was challenged before Court because two witnesses who acted as Panchas to seizure memo turned hostile and prosecution was left to depend on testimony of two police officers to prove discovery - That two witnesses turned hostile was not surprising because both of them are closely related to appellant - It would have been better if prosecution had examined other Panch, Sayyed Habib-ul-Rab, who is described as a retired Judge in Memo of Seizure - Investigating Officer however was not asked as to why he was not examined and Court see no warrant for assuming that witness though available was deliberatley kept back - Post-mortem report shows that on person of deceased were found two stab injuries and nine contused lacerated wounds - Nature of injuries shows that two different weapons were used in commissiion of Ram Kumar s murder - But in light of various circumstances discussed above it is impossible to accept inference pressed upon Court on behalf of appellant that not only were two different weapons used but at least two persons had participated in commission of murder - Even granting that there was more than one person, there is no doubt that appellant had participated and was a key figure in commission of crime – Court confirm order of conviction and sentence - Appeal dismissed.
Judgment
CHANDRACHUD J.:- This appeal by special leave is directed against a judgment of the High Court of Delhi confirming the conviction of the appellant under Section 302 of the Penal Code but reducing the sentence of death imposed on him by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi to life imprisonment. The charge against the appellant is that on the night between 17th and 18th August, 1968 he committed the murder of one Ram Kumar.
2. On April 11, 1968 Ram Kumar, his brother Shiv Kumar, their mother and the appellant left Kanpur for Moradnagar. On April 15 Ram Kumar, Shiv Kumar and the appellant left Moradnagar for Delhi for purchasing a second had motor-cycle. Shiv Kumar went back to Moradnagar for catching a bus to Kanpur.
3. At about 7-15 p.m. on April 15, 1968 Ram Kumar and the appellant booked a room at Hindustan Hotel, Ballimaran, Delhi. They signed their names in the hotel register and entered therein their Kanpur address. On the 16th they were admittedly together and while in search of a motor-cycle they met Abdul Hafeez, Babu Khan and Om Prakash. On the 17th morning Ram Kumar and the appellant struck a deal with Babu Khan and Om Prakash agreeing to purchase from them a motor-cycle for Rupees Rs. 1,000/-. Ram Kumar paid a sum of Rs. 25/- by way of advance and the sellers agreed to deliver the motor-cycle in the evening.
4. At about 6 p.m. on the 17th evening Babu Khan and Om Prakash went to Hindustan Hotel with the motor-cycle and met Ram Kumar, who told them that he was short of money by three or four hundred rupees and that he had sent the appellant to the amount from his (the appellant s) Ustad. Babu Khan and Om Prakash waited till about 9.30 p.m. but the appellant did not turn up and so they went away with the motor-cycle.
5. The case of the prosecution is that at about 12-30 a.m. on the night between the 17th and 18th the deceased Ram Kumar and the appellant were seen going to their hotel room by Lal Chand, a partner of the hotel. It is furhter alleged that at about 10 a.m. on the 18th morning, Lal Chand and his brother Tek Chand saw the appellant locking the room and leaving the hotel. On April 20th the hotel premises were full of a foul smell and thereupon the lock of the room which was occupied by Ram Kumar and the appellant was broken open. Inside the room was found the dead body of Ram Kumar with two stab injuries, one near the right eye brow and the other near the right ear and nine contused lacerated wounds on the scalp, each injury being brain deep. According to medical evidence the stab injuries were caused with a pointed, sharp-edged weapon while the other injuries were caused by a hard blunt substance.
6. Soon after the discovery of Ram Kumar s dead body Lal Chand lodged the First Information Report at the Lahori Gate police station stating that two persons who had entered their names as Nasim Mahazroo and Ram Kumar occupied a room in his hotel on April 15, that he had seen them entering the room at about 10-30 p.m. on the night between 17th and 18th April and that the younger of the two (namely Nasim, the appellant) had locked the room at about 10 a.m. on the 18th and had not returned since then. The First Information Report then refers to the circumstances in which the dead body of Ram Kumar was found in the room.
7. The appellant could not be found at Kanpur where he normally resides and it was on May 4, 1968 that he was arrested at Gaya (Bihar) in the house of his sister. On a search of that house an attache case containing clothes, a spanner set, an allen key set and a connecting rod are said to have been recovered.
8. According to the prosection, the appellant committed the murder of Ram Kumar with the motive of committing theft of about six or seven hundred rupees which he had kept with him for purchasing the motor-cycle. The appellant admitted that he was on friendly terms with Ram Kumar and that they had gone to Delhi for purchasing a motor-cycle. He also admitted that Ram Kumar agreed to purc
An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers
Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance
Scan Me!
India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!
For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :
Back to top
