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2011(2) Crimes 499 (Del.)
DELHI HIGH COURT
S. Ravindra Bhat and G.P. Mittal, JJ.
Pradeep @ Sanjay & Another —Petitioner
versus
State (NCT of Delhi) —Respondent
Crl. A. 09 of 1998
Decided on 02.05.2011
Counsel for the Parties:
For the Petitioner:Mr. K.K. Sud, Senior Advocate with Mr. RajeshMahajan, Advocate.
For the Respondent: Mr. Lovkesh Sawhney, APP for the State.
IMPORTANT POINT
In case of circumstantial evidence if the circumstances relied upon by the prosecution are beyond doubt then the absence of motive would not hamper a conviction.
Headnote:Indian Penal Code,1860—Section 302 and 201 read with Section 34—Prosecution of accused appellants two in number for kidnapping deceased a student of Ninth Class committing his murder and thereafter burning his body by pouring petrol over him—Conviction by Trial Court—Appeal against conviction— Prosecution had been able to establish said circumstances against Appellants—Discovery of skull and skeleton (some bones), in addition to recovery of belt having buckle of Navyug Vidhayala_ with the monogram of the school— Recovery of burnt piece of pant Ex.P—1 proved to be stitched by PW-5— The piece of cloth Ex.PW-5/2 of the pant stitch with order form Ex.PW-5/1 was found to tally with the cloth of the pant vide reportEx.PW—17/A—Recovery of PT shoes Ex. P-7 belonging to deceased, identified by PWs 1 and 2—Recovery of the silver ring inscribed with mark „SKG_ which was gifted to deceased by his maternal uncle PW-29 and identified by him; in pursuance of the disclosure statements Ex.PW-1/A by Appellant A1and Ex.PW-1/B by Appellant A2—Recovery of driving licecse Ex.P-10 belonging to Appellant A1 from the spot from where the skeleton and the articles belonging to deceased were recovered—3. Appellants m-6 on Date of occurrence after Hindi examination was over— The Appellants were following the red line bus in which deceased was travelling with PW-6 and PW-26— Circumstantial evidence had been conclusively proved by prosecution—These circumstances taken together, pointed to the guilt of Appellants— No error or infirmity found in the impugned judgment— Appeal dismissed. (Paras 114 to 123)
Result: Appeal dismissed
JUDGMENT
G.P. Mittal, J.—This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 26.11.1997 and the order on sentence dated 28.11.1997, whereby the Appellants Pradeep and Dinesh were convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 and 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay fine of ‘500/- each under Section 302/34 IPC. In default of payment of fine, the Appellants were sentenced to undergo further rigorous Imprisonment for one month. They were further sentenced to undergo rigorous Imprisonment for one year and to pay fine of ‘500/- each under Section 201/34 IPC. In default of payment of fine, the Appellants were sentenced to undergo further Simple Imprisonment for one month.
2. The facts of the case can be extracted from para 1 to 4 of the impugned judgment.
These are :-
“1. Sudhir Goel (now deceased) was residing alongwith his father Bhagwan Dass at H.No.BE-153, Hari Nagar on or prior to 4.3.94. He was studying in 9th class, Section D, Navyug Vidhayala, Sarojini Nagar, Rajnish, Avinash, Arun, Jitender were also studying at the said school. Rajnish and Avinash were class-fellows of Sudhir Goel (now deceased). On 4.3.94, Sudhir Goel had gone to his school at about 1 P.M. He was wearing school uniform at that time. He was to take his annual exam of Hindi paper from 2 to 4 P.M. on 4.3.94. The prosecution case is that Sudhir Goel (now deceased) had appeared for his Hindi paper on 4.3.94 between 2 to 4 P.M. Sudhir Goel had not returned to his house thereafter. When Sudhir Goel did not return to his house, Bhagwan Dass, father of Sudhir Goel made telephone calls at the residence of his call fellows and searched for his son. Thereafter when Bhagwan Dass and his relations failed to trace Sudhir Goel, he got lodged the missing report about his son with the PCR. At 9.45 P.M. ASI Tek Ram on duty at PCR received this information from PW-2 and he passed on this information to P.S. Hari Nagar. DD No.64B was recorded at PS Hari Nagar to this effect. The copy of DD no.64B was sent to PS Kirti Nagar. On receipt of DD no.64B, DD no.19A was recorded at PS Kirti Nagar. DD No.64B and 19A were handed over to ASI R.K. Tiwari for investigation. On receipt of these DD entries, ASI R.K.Tiwari reached at the house of Bhagwan Dass at Hari Nagar and made enquiries regarding the missing of Sudhir. On 6.3.94, he made his endorsement over DD no.19A and got the present case registered u/s 365 IPC at PS Kirti Nagar. On the basis of the endorsement of ASI R.K.Tiwari, the formal FIR at srl.no.74/94 was registered at PS Kirti Nagar. Special report was sent by the Duty officer to the Ld.M.M. and the other higher police officers. During the investigation of the case, ASI R.K.Tiwari went to Varanasi in search of one Balbir Singh, an employee of Bhagwan Dass. No clue could be found about Sudhir Goel from the interrogation of Balbir Singh. The photographs of Sudhir Goel were got published in the newspaper and on T.V. During investigation by ASI R.K.Tiwari, he visited Navyug School and recorded the statement of Sh. P.S.Rana, the Principal of the school. He also interrogated the class mates of Sudhir Goel. On 27.3.94, he visited the house of Rajnish at Naraina Vihar and recorded his statement u/s. 161 Cr.P.C. On the basis of the statement of Rajnish, ASI R.K.Tiwari suspected about the involvement of both the accused persons. He went at their house but the accused persons were not there. On 28.3.94, the accused persons were produced in the police station but complainant Bhagwan Dass got them released. The investigation of this case thereafter, was taken over by the SHO from ASI R.K.Tiwari.
2. Further case of the prosecution is that on 5.4.94, both the accused persons were produced by Om Parkash Garg before Bhagwan Dass and Raj Kumar who were present at their house. Om Parkash Garg told them that both the accused persons had confessed about the murder of Sudhir Goel and they want to help
