The main legal point established in the judgment is the significance of corroborating an extra-judicial confession with other evidence, the importance of the 'last seen together' theory, and the relevance of recovery of the vehicle, motive, medical evidence, scientific evidence, and conduct of abscondence in establishing guilt.

SANGITA DHINGRA SEHGAL, J.

1. Present appeals arise out of a common judgment dated 23.05.2015 and order of sentence dated 29.05.2015 passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi in Sessions Case No. 62/14 whereby the appellant had been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 25,000/- for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and in default of payment of fine, the amount shall be recovered as per Section 421 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The appeals have been heard and are disposed of by a common judgment.

2. Brief facts of the case, as noted by the Learned Trial Court are:

“1. Deceased Sonu and Rakesh were good friends, who were residing in the same locality. Rakesh was working as driver and he along with his family, was residing in the house of Ms. Nandi Devi as her tenant. Ms. Samta was the daughter of landlady of Rakesh. Deceased Sonu was having close relationship with wife of accused Rakesh, which was not liked by accused Rakesh. On 08.03.2009 accused Rakesh took Sonu along with him during night, out of a pre-plan to eliminate him. They had taken drinks along with accused Ravi. Rakesh had taken a Toyota Qualis vehicle from his cousin Manoj and both accused took deceased in that vehicle for outing. Sonu had become too much intoxicated under the influence of liquor and then in pursuance of the plan, Ravi fired on the chest of Sonu from close range while sitting in the same vehicle. Thereafter, accused Rakesh took country made pistol from Ravi and fired on head of Sonu, due to which Sonu died in the vehicle itself. Sonu was thrown out of the vehicle on the road going towards Khurja, near Maharam Pur, U.P. thereafter, accused persons came back to Delhi. On next day i.e. 09.03.2009 accused Rakesh took away his family from the house of Ms. Nandi and left Delhi. The family members of Sonu were making inquiry about Sonu and Sh. Madan Singh (father of Sonu) finally lodged a missing report on 12.03.2009 Sh. Madan Singh had been making inquiry about the accused Rakesh from Ms. Samta and her mother on 15.03.2009 during evening time, he was informed by Ms. Samta that accused Rakesh had made telephonic call to her. He asked Samta to politely extract information from accused Rakesh about his son Sonu. Ms. Samta was talking to Rakesh on her mobile phone, which was not having recording facility, however some parts of the talk between accused Rakesh and Ms. Samta were recorded in the mobile phone of Sh. Madan Singh, while keeping speaker on of the phone used by Ms. Samta. In that talk, accused Rakesh confessed of eliminating deceased Sonu and thereafter, Sh. Madan Singh again visited police station and disclosed all facts to the SHO. His statement was recorded and FIR was registered by police under Section 365 IPC against accused Rakesh.

2. On 04.07.2009 on the basis of secret information, accused Rakesh was arrested by officials of Special Cell, Delhi Police and thereafter, he was formally arrested in this case after interrogation. Accused Rakesh gave his disclosure statement thereby disclosing involvement of co-accused Ravi and the use of Toyota Qualis vehicle in the murder of Sonu. Police recovered Toyota Qualis vehicle from Sh. Nafees Ahmad. The vehicle was examined by experts of CFSL, Lodhi Road, who found blood stains on the seat of vehicle and the same was seized for the purpose of FSL examination.

3. The dead body of Sonu was found near village Gangthalla, Khurja in the early morning of 09.03.2009 and local police sent the dead body for postmortem examination in District Hospital, Bullandshahar. They also lodged a case on 12.03.2009, however, on the basis of pamphlets and publication of photographs of the dead body, Sh. Madan Singh visited PS Khurja City and identified the clothes and photographs of deceased Sonu. Thereafter, the further investigation of the case was transferred from Khurja City to Delhi for investigation of offence under Section 302 IPC.

4. After completion