JUDGMENT :

Anup Jairam Bhambhani, J.

Summary of Facts

By way of the present judgment, we propose to deal with a batch of 05 criminal appeals bearing Crl. A. Nos. 811/2013, 1485/2013, 1501/2013, 1570/2013 and 88/2014, whereby 04 convicted appellants as well as the State have impugned judgment dated 23.02.2013 and sentencing order dated 27.02.2013, by which the learned trial court has convicted the 04 appellants for committing offences under section 302 read with section 120B of the Indian Penal Code 1860 (‘IPC’) and has sentenced all appellants to rigorous imprisonment for life alongwith fine of Rs.20,000/- each, with a default sentence of 01 year. By the same judgment, the learned trial court has acquitted accused Meena Gupta of the charge under sections 302 read with 120B IPC and the charge under section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959 (‘Arms Act’) as also acquitted Reena Yadav of the charge under section 25 of the Arms Act, against which acquittals the State has preferred the fifth appeal. For sake of completeness, it may be mentioned that one Krishna, who was also initially suspected to have been involved in the crime, was neither arrested nor charged in the matter.

2. The case arises from an incident of 18.09.2009, when Karamvir Yadav (PW-1) made a PCR call saying that around 08:45 a.m. while standing outside his house, he looked up and noticed that his nephew Parth Sarthi alias Yash (PW-2) was standing in the balcony with his mouth taped-up and was indicating to PW-1 to come upstairs; and on going-up to the flat on the second floor of the building, PW-1 found that his brother Dalbir Singh, who used to live there, was lying in a pool of blood with his hands tied behind his back and with a wire round his neck. Thereupon, PW-1 says he removed the tape from his nephew’s mouth and untied his hands; and that his nephew told him that four persons had come and were demanding some property papers from Dalbir Singh, the deceased/victim; that they beat-up the latter; they taped and tied-up PW-2; and left thereafter.

3. It transpired that PW-1 then took the victim to Batra Hospital, where the victim was declared brought dead. Based on the information received from PW-1, FIR No. 231/2009 dated 18.09.2009 came to be registered under sections 302/34 IPC at P.S.: Neb Sarai and investigation commenced in the matter, culminating in the filing of charge-sheet dated 19.12.2009 and supplementary charge-sheet dated 23.07.2010 against 05 accused persons. The particulars of the persons concerned are the following :

4. At the trial, the prosecution marshalled 31 witnesses, while the defence presented 02 witnesses. The principal witnesses on whose testimony the decision of the learned trial court proceeds are :