The unimpeachable evidence of a single truthful witness may be sufficient to prove a fact, and the court may rely on ocular evidence as the best possible evidence in a criminal case.

JUDGMENT :

Sanjaya Kumar Mishra, J.

1. In this appeal, appellant Anuj Chauhan takes exceptions to his conviction recorded by learned Sessions Judge, Haridwar in Sessions Trial No. 256 of 2012 under Section 302, 504 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as “Penal Code” for brevity) and under Section 27 and 30 of the Arms Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as “Arms Act” for brevity) vide judgment and order dated 19.12.2016 and he has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a sum of Rs. 5,000/- and in default, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment of six months under Section 302 IPC; to undergo rigorous imprisonment of three years and to pay fine of Rs. 2,000/- and in default, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment of three months under Section 27 of the Arms Act.

2. Deceased Sanjay, younger brother of PW1 Mukesh Kumar - complainant in this case, was carrying on the business of construction activities. Appellant – Anuj Chauhan promised to secure a job for Ravinder and he was paid Rs. 70,000/- for it by the deceased. When appellant – Anuj Chauhan did not fulfil his promise, he was approached by deceased several times for return of the money. On 08.07.2012, deceased – Sanjay and PW2 Ravi Kumar went to the office of appellant – Anuj Chauhan situated in Shivalik Nagar asking him to return the money. When they arrived there, appellant was not present in his office but later on at about 11.00 – 11.30 a.m., he arrived at his office situated in Shivalik Nagar, Ranipur. There deceased Sanjay asked the appellant to return the money, as a result of which, the appellant started abusing him. When the deceased protested about the abuses made by the appellant, appellant - Anuj Chauhan took out his revolver and shot the deceased on his head. As a result of which, the deceased fell on the ground. He was shifted to Bhuma Niketan Hospital where he was given some treatment and referred to Jolly Grant Hospital wherefrom he was shifted to AIIMS, Delhi. Initially, on the date of incident, PW1 Mukesh Kumar lodged a report before police station – Ranipur for which case crime no. 252 of 2012 was registered under Section 307 of the Penal Code and the investigation of the case was taken up.

In the course of investigation, the investigating officer examined the witnesses, visited the spot, prepared the spot map, seized the bloodstained earth and simple earth from the spot. On that date itself, he arrested the appellant while he was travelling in his vehicle i.e. white colour Tata Safari and from his possession, one revolver of .32 caliber along with five live and one empty cartridge were seized. After receiving the information about death of the deceased, the investigating officer turned the case into one under Section 302, 504 of the Penal Code, and also added the offences under Section 27 and 30 of the Arms Act. Upon completion of post mortem examination, receipt of the Forensic Science Laboratory report from Lucknow, the investigating officer submitted a charge-sheet against the appellant under Section 302, 504 of the Penal Code and under Section 27 and 30 of the Arms Act. The defence took a plea of denial and also tried to make out a case that in an accidental firing the deceased sustained injury and died.

3. In order to prove its case, the prosecution has examined 15 witnesses, in total. PW2 Ravi Kumar is the solitary eye witness examined on behalf of the prosecution. PW1 Mukesh Kumar is the complainant, who happens to be the elder brother of the deceased. PW3 Ravinder Kumar speaks about the payment of Rs. 70,000/- to the appellant by deceased Sanjay Kumar. He is also a post occurrence witness. PW6 Shishir Chaudhary is also a post occurrence witness. He also speaks about the meeting of the deceased and PW2 Ravi Kumar with him just before the incident at Shivalik Nagar. PW5 Deshpal has not supported the case of the prosecution. PW10 Zuber Ahmad is a witness regarding the discussion held between the deceased and others