SANJU Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The impugned judgment dtd. 18/12/2012 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Appeal No. 5036 of 2005 upheld the conviction of Bhagwati Singh and his three sons, Bhoop Singh, Balwant Singh and Sanju Singh, for murder of Chandrapal Singh outside his residence in Village Sahnaul, District Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, on 11/8/2003 at about 4:30 p.m. The appellants have been sentenced, for the offence under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860(For short, 'IPC') , to imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.5,000.00 and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for one month. The appellants have also been convicted under Sec. 307 of the IPC for attempt to murder the brother of the deceased Chandrapal Singh, namely, Rakesh Kumar, who is also the informant and has deposed as PW-1. The appellants have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for seven years with fine of Rs.3,000.00 and in default of payment of fine, additional simple imprisonment for fifteen days for the offence under Sec. 307 of the IPC. The sentences are to run concurrently.

(2.) Having considered the evidence on record, for the reasons stated below, we are inclined to uphold the conviction, albeit we would discard and not rely upon the testimony of Ramphal Singh (PW-2), as an eye witness to the occurrence.

(3.) The appellants have questioned the place of occurrence as well as the presence of Rakesh Kumar (PW-1) at his home located in Village Sahnaul, District Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, on 11/8/2003. These facts, in our opinion, are not only proved from the testimony of Rakesh Kumar (PW-1), but are also established from the depositions of Special Sub-Inspector(For short, 'SSI') Veerpal Singh (PW-6) and Dr. Anil Kumar Purwani (PW-5) who had conducted the medical examination of Rakesh Kumar (PW-1) on 12/8/2003 and had deposed about the injuries caused on his body.