The testimonies of eyewitnesses, recovery of the weapon of offence, and medical evidence are crucial in establishing guilt in criminal cases.

JUDGMENT :

Siddharth Mridul, J.

1. The present batch of criminal appeals being Criminal Appeal Nos. 8/2020, 10/2020,79/2020 and 111/2020 instituted under the provision of Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C), assail the judgment of conviction dated 11.10.2019 and the order on sentence dated 17.10.2019, rendered by learned Additional Sessions Judge, West-02, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi, in Session Case No. 58184/16, titled as ‘State vs. Nadeem and Ors’, emanating from F.I.R. No. 174/2011 registered under Sections 302/307/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), at Police Station Nihal Vihar.

2. By way of the impugned judgment dated 11.10.2019 and the order on sentence dated 17.10.2019, appellants namely Nadeem (‘Appellant No. 1’), Naresh @ Raju (‘Appellant No. 2’), Mohsin @ Raju (‘Appellant No. 3’), and Nitin @ Pintu @ Aatish (‘Appellant No. 4’) were convicted for committing the murder of the deceased victim Manoj s/o Charan Singh by inflicting deadly injury upon the deceased with dandas and subsequently stabbing him with a knife in furtherance of their common intention. All the Appellants were convicted and sentenced for the offences mentioned as under:

“i. qua offence punishable u/s 302/34 IPC, to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs. 5000/- each. In default of payment of fine to further undergo R.I. for three months;

ii. qua offence punishable u/s 307/34 IPC, to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for two years and to pay fine of Rs. 3000/- each. In default of payment of fine to further undergo R.I. for three months.

All the sentences were directed to run concurrently, whilst according the benefit of Section 428 Cr.P.C to all the convicts/appellants, herein.

3. The fulcrum of the case of the prosecution is that on the night of 03/04.06.2011,the Appellant Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 (hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘Appellants’), sharing common intention, caused stab injuries on the body of Manoj s/o Sh. Charan Singh r/o G-44/14, Laxmi Park, Nangloi, Delhi (hereinafter referred to as ‘the deceased’) leading to his death. The injuries were caused with a knife [Ex.PW-26/B] and danda [Ex.PW-21/O] as a vendetta owing to previous enmity and animosity with the deceased. After committing the murder, the appellants absconded from the crime spot. The entire incident was witnessed by PW-4 Smt. Gudiya w/o Jagbir Singh; PW-6 Jagbir Singh (brother of deceased and injured eye witness); and PW-2 Amit Bhardwaj (neighbour and eyewitness who turned hostile); who were statedly present with the deceased at the time of the incident.

4. A PCR call [Ex.PW-5/A] was received from mobile No. 9891285918 by Ct. Anita (PW-5) regarding stabbing of one person with knife, and Daily Diary No. 42-B was lodged at Police Station: Nihal Vihar, Delhi (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Police Station’). Sub-Inspector Dinesh Chandra (PW-14) alongwith Constable Yudhbir Singh (PW-18) reached the crime spot where they found blood on the road and upon inquiry, it was revealed that the injured has been shifted to the hospital. By this time, beat constable Ct. Kuldeep (PW-17) also arrived at the spot. SI Dinesh Chandra (PW-14) prepared the rukka (Ex.PW-6/A, CX, 15/B) and handed over the same to Ct. Yudhbir (PW-18) with a direction to get the FIR registered (Ex.PW-15/A) and also requesting that the investigation be marked to (PW-30) Inspector Sehdev Kumar Rana, ATO, Nihal Vihar. After registration of the FIR, investigation was handed over to Inspector Sehdev Kumar Rana (IO). Thereupon, IO Sehdev Kumar Rana also reached the crime spot, and got the same inspected through the Crime Team whilst contemporaneously photographing the scene of crime from different angles and also seizing blood stained earth samples[Ex.PW-17/A].Thereafter the site plan [Ex.PW12/A] was prepared. The dead body of the deceased was sent for post mortem at DDU hospital [Ex.PW-26/A]. On 04.06.2011, PW-30 conducted inquest proceedings and the dead body of the deceased was i