Crl.A.668/2003 Page 1 of 18

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Reserved on : 31.01.2019

Date of Decision: 18.03.2019

+

CRL.A. 668/2003

ANIL SHARMA

..... Appellant

Through

Mr. Jitendra Sethi, Mr. Hemant

Gulati and Ms. Anshika Sethi,

Advocates.

versus

STATE

..... Respondent

Through

Ms. Aashaa Tiwari, APP for State.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ KUMAR OHRI

MANOJ KUMAR OHRI, J.

1. The present appeal has been preferred by the appellant against the

judgement dated 19.07.2003, arising out of FIR No.874/1998, under

Section 302 IPC registered at Police Station Dabri and the order on

sentence dated 19.07.2003, whereby he was convicted and sentenced to

undergo life imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs.5,000/-, and in case he

defaulted on payment of the fine, to further undergo simple imprisonment

for six months in consequence thereof. The two co-accused, namely Hans

Raj and Sudershan, who faced trial along with the appellant, were however

acquitted by the trial court.

2019:DHC:1625-DB

Crl.A.668/2003 Page 2 of 18

2. As per the prosecution case, the incident came to light on

10.12.1998, at about 10 a.m. when information was received at Police

Station Dwarka about a dead body lying near the drain in Sector-V, Pappan

Kalan, Madhu Vihar. The said information was recorded as DD No.11

(Ex.PW-11/1 and Ex.PW-11/2) and the same was marked to SI Rajiv

Yadav (PW-11), who along with Ct. Dinesh (PW-21) reached the spot and

found a dead body near the road, lying in the grass. The skull of the

deceased was torn and broken and his brain was found lying near the head

in the grass. The body was sent for postmortem examination which was

conducted on 12.12.1998. As it appeared to be a case of murder, FIR

No.874/1998 under Section 302 IPC was registered. The dead body was

identified on 12.12.2018 as that of Kamal Verma by his brother-in-law,

Surinder Kumar (PW-14).

3. During the investigation, pursuant to the disclosure statement made

by the co-accused, Sudershan, a wrist watch and gold kara belonging to

the deceased was seized vide seizure memo (Ex.PW-9/9). The

investigation proceeded and subsequently, through the statements of the

family members of the deceased, the role of the present appellant came to

light. It was stated by the family members during the investigation that the

appellant was a friend of the deceased Kamal and used to visit his house.

During these visits, the appellant came close to Anita, the deceased’s sister

and had a relationship with her out of which, a child was born. A few days

prior to the date of the incident, when the appellant visited the house of

Kamal, his mother addressed him as the ‘uncle’ of the child at which the

appellant became angry and threatened to teach them a lesson. On

09.12.1998, the appellant went to Kamal’s house. Kamal was called

downstairs by the appellant through the co-accused, Hans Raj. He went

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Crl.A.668/2003 Page 3 of 18

downstairs and left with them whereafter he never returned. As per the

prosecution case, the appellant and the two co-accused had committed the

murder of Kamal Verma. The appellant surrendered on 17.12.1998. His

disclosure statement (Ex.PW-9/2) was recorded by the police and on his

disclosure, the alleged weapon of offence, a kulhari (axe) was recovered

and sent along with the other exhibits to the FSL.

4. After the investigation was completed, the charge-sheet was filed in

the concerned Court. A charge under Section 302/34 IPC was framed

against the appellant and the co-accused persons. The prosecution

examined 24 witnesses in all to prove