JUDGMENT

Anil Kumar, J.

1. The appellants have challenged the judgement dated 2nd May, 2001 in Sessions Case No. 92/1999 titled as 'State vs. Sapan Haldar & Ors.' under sections 365, 364A, 506 of the Indian Penal Code, PS Badarpur, convicting the appellants under section 364A and 365 read with section 120 B of IPC and sentencing the appellants persons Sapan Haldar and Shefali Haldar to imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 3,000/- each, in default of which to further undergo rigourous imprisonment for three months each by order dated 4th May, 2001.

2. The case of the prosecution in brief is that on 6th March, 1998 at about 7:15 a.m., Subashish s/o Sh. Ashish Chatterjee and his two sisters, had come down from their house, flat no. E-52, Sarita Vihar, as they were to leave for their school, DPS Vasant Kunj, in their private car. The driver of the car, namely Santosh, was sitting in the car, waiting for them. The sisters of Subashish were sitting behind him, while he was sitting besides the driver.

3. Suddenly four men with muffled faces entered the car forcefully. Two persons put a revolver on the temple of Santosh and one boy dragged Subashish out of the car and took him into a Maruti car bearing no. DL 3CC 6161. The fourth person was already sitting by the steering wheel of the Maruti car. Thus the child was kidnapped by these unknown persons. Before escaping in the car, the kidnappers had allegedly left behind a letter, written in Hindi, at the place from where the child was kidnapped. The note conveyed the following threat:

"Need not worry, your child is safe with us. He will not suffer even a scratch. But if you dare to inform the police you on your own will be responsible for the death of your child. If you want your child back safe and sound then you have to accept my terms, which will be told to you on the phone. If you dare to do anything undesirable such as taping the telephone or taking the assistance of police you will definitely be awarded the prize and that will be in the form of dead body of your son, which you will find lying on the side of some road. Police can only give you the corpse but not our address. If you want to get your son sound, safe and alive, that if you agree to accept our each and every terms & condition then tie a green coloured cloth on the grill of your terrace. You will receive our phone after 24 hours."

4. A complaint was lodged with the police by Mr. Ashish Chaterjee, father of the kidnapped child, vide Ex.PW2/A. The note left by the kidnappers and a postcard, Ex 13/22 allegedly recieved from the kidnappers by the family of the kidnapped boy, were also handed over to the police. Thereafter a police team headed by SI Rajbir Singh gathered at Sarita Vihar, to trace out the child. The police received the information that the car having the child in it had gone towards Village Madan Pur Khadar. After which the police officials searched Parmar colony in search of the kidnapped child.

5. The police then received the information that the alleged car used by the kidnappers had met with a serious accident. A broken down electric pole was also found, which was on account of the said accident. The car was subsequently recovered at a Kucha Road ahead of Narula Farm. The number plate on the front of the car bore the registration No. DL 3C 661, while the number plate on the rear of the car bore the registration No. DL 3C 6261. However, no one was found inside the car. One broken injection of Diazepam was found in a polythene bag in the rear seat of the car, along with one green cloth. The cloth as well as the broken injection were wrapped in a cloth and sealed with the seal of 'RS'. The driver of the car, Santosh was also present at the time and he identified the car as the one in which the kidnapped child was taken and thus the car was seized by the police officials.

6. The police party then extended their search to village Meetha Pur for further investigation. One Baldev Singh met the pol