The main legal point established in the judgment is the exercise of revisional powers by the court under Section 401 Cr.P.C. to set aside the conviction under Section 304 Part II IPC due to the lack of reliable evidence against the respondents.

S.P.Garg, J.

1. State has preferred the present appeal against the judgment dated 15.12.2010 of learned Additional Sessions Judge in Sessions Case No.22/3/09 by which the respondents Bakshish Singh @ Manny and Sandeep Singh @ Sunny were acquitted of the charge under Section 302 IPC and convicted for the offence punishable under Section 304 Part II read with Section 34 of the IPC. In brief, the prosecution case is as under:-

2. On 11.06.2009 a meeting took place at the shop of Bhupinder Singh (PW-4) at Mangolpuri in which deceased, PW-24A (Deepak Marwah), the respondents and 3 or 4 other persons participated to resolve money dispute between the deceased and his brother Deepak Marwah, on one side and the respondents on the other side. The dispute could not be resolved in the said meeting. On the same day i.e.11.06.2009, Daily Diary (DD) No.3A was recorded at 12:30 night at Police Station Vikas Puri on getting information from PCR that a person injured in an accident at J Block, Vikas Puri, Paschim Vihar was admitted at Balaji hospital. The investigation was assigned to ASI Prem Singh who with Constable Surender reached the hospital and collected the MLC of Rahul Marwah (since deceased). He was unfit to make statement. No eye witness was available at the hospital. ASI Prem Singh reached the spot at J-86, Vikas Puri and was informed by the neighbours that the family members of the injured had taken him to the hospital. He made endorsement over DD No.3A and sent the rukka for lodging First Information Report under Section 279/337 IPC at 10:25 A.M. on 12.06.2009. At the spot, the Investigating Officer met PW-3 (Smt.Manju Puri) and made inquiries from her. No eye witness was available at the spot also. On 25.06.2009 Rahul Marwah succumbed to the injuries in the hospital. Inquest proceedings were conducted. Body was sent for post-mortem examination to DDU hospital. The Investigating Officer recorded statements of Deepak Marwah and his mother-Joginder Kaur . It revealed that Rahul Marwah was intentionally hit with vehicle No. HR51U7925 made Hundai Accent, by the respondents. Section 304 IPC was added and the investigation was taken over by Inspector Arunender Singh on 30.06.2009. During investigation PW-24B (Mohan Singh Utpal) and PW-14 (Surjit Singh) claimed that they had witnessed the incident. Their statements under Section 161 Cr.P.C. were recorded. They informed the police that both the respondents had deliberately hit Rahul Marwah with their car at about 05:00 P.M. when he was coming from park while talking on mobile. The respondents reversed the car and struck against Rahul Marwah with an intention to kill him.

3. On 06.07.2009 the respondents were arrested at about 07:00 P.M. The car No.HR51U7925 was seized by seizure memo (Ex.PW-1/A). The respondents were interrogated and their disclosure statements were recorded. During further investigation, the exhibits were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory and the reports were collected. The Investigating Officer recorded statements of the witnesses conversant with facts and after completion of the investigation, a charge-sheet was submitted against the respondents for committing offences punishable under Section 120B IPC, 302 read with Section 120B/34 IPC. The respondents were duly charged and brought to trial. The prosecution examined 25 witnesses to prove the charge. The respondents in their statements under Section 313 Cr.P.C. denied the allegations and pleaded false implication. After appreciating the evidence and documents on record and considering the rival contentions of the parties, the Trial Court by the impugned judgment convicted the respondents under Section 304 Part II/34 IPC and sentenced them to undergo imprisonment for the period already undergone by them since 6th July, 2009 and to pay a fine of Rs.3,00,000/- each. The total fine amount of Rs.6,00,000/- was payable as compensation to the mother of the deceased Rahul Marwah.

4. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor