1993 Supreme(Raj) 360
Rajasthan High Court
Honble J.R. Chopra & Rajendra Prasad Saxena, JJ.
Prabhu alias Prabhulal - Appellant
Versus
State of Rajasthan - Respondents
D.B. Criminal Appeal No. 207 of 1991
Decided On : September 30, 1993
N.P. Gupta with N.K. Rastogi, for Appellant D.R. Bohra, Public Prosecutor
Headnote:Criminal Trial — Circumstantial Evidence — Principle of Criminal Jurisprudence — When conviction is sought on circumstantial evidence the prosecution has to establish each circumstance by adducing clear, cogent, convincing independent evidence and the circumstances so established should have the tendency to conclusively point out that it was the accused, who is in all probability the perpetrator of the crime. (Para 9)
(2). The facts of this case can be recapitulated within a narrow compass. It is alleged that deceased Ganga Ram Maharaj aged about 70 years was living in the house of the appellant; that in the night intervening 21st and 22nd Nov., 1987, appellant committed his murder inflicting blows to him by a handle of Kassi (Article 8) in the courtyard of his house; that thereafter he dragged his dead body; which was bleeding profusely by means of a rope, from his house to his room (Kotha) situated near his well. It is the case of the prosecution that appellant while going towards village Chanderia, was seen by PW 12 Purushot-tamlal in the morning of 22.11.87 and before him, the appellant made an extra judicial confession to the effect that he had killed Ganga Ram and placed his dead body in the room constructed near his well. The appellant is also alleged to have informed Purushottamlal that he was going to the Police Station. It is further the case of the prosecution that in the courtyard of the house of the appellant, large quantity of blood was lying and it appeared that the same was covered by plastering the surface of the courtyard with mud; that marks of dragging were also visible in the path way from the house of the appellant and that at about 100-150 passage away from his house, a piece of blood stained rope and pair of shoes of the deceased lying near a shrub (Jhari) were also noticed by the villagers. Purushottamlal asked Mangu Jat and Madan Balai to go to the room situated near the appellants well, who found that the dead body of Ganga Ram was lying there. Mangilal Jat in his turn also has informed PW 1 Pyar Chand about the incident. Thereupon, Pyar Chand lodged an oral report on 22.11.87 at 10 A.M. to PW 10 Mohanlal Head Constable of Police Station Chanderia, who scribed FIR Ex. P.l and registered a case under sections 302, 201 IPC. PW 5 Sajjan Singh Dy. S.P. rushed to the spot, prepared site plan and its memo Ex.P. 2 and Ex.P.3 respectively. He noticed drops of blood lying beneath plaster of mud, which appeared to have been freshly made in the courtyard of the appellants house and the marks of dragging going upto the shrubs, where a blood stained rope and a pair of shoes of the deceased were found lying. He seized the blood stained rope and a pair of shoes vide seizure memos Ex.P.4 and Ex.P.5 respectively. He also got the photographs of the house of the appellant, the place where the dead body of Ganga Ram was lying, of the shrubs and of the dragging marks visible on the way. Those photographs are Ex.P.6 to Ex.P.18 and their negatives are Ex.P.19 to Ex.P.25. It is alleged that after the said incident, the appellant absconded and was arrested on 7.2.88 vide arrest memo Ex.P.40 in Ahmedabad and that in pursuance of his information memo Ex.P.41 dt. 10/2/88, he got a blood stained handle of Kassi recovered from a hut situated in his house used for keeping the cattle vide recovery memo Ex.P.26. The appellant in pursuance of his information memo dt. 12.2.1988 Ex.P. 42 also got recovered one blood stained dhoti! from his house vide recovery memo dt. 15.2.88 Ex.P. 27. PW 5 Sajjan Singh also seized a pair of blood stained shoes vide seizure memo dt. 22.11.87 Ex.P.30 from the room, wherein the dead body of Ganga Ram was found lying. It is the case of the prosecution that motbirs Mangilal Jat and PW 9 Girdhari before whom those pair of shoes were recovered had identified those belonging to appellant. After usual investigation, the police submitted challan against the