RAJ KUMAR Vs. STATE (NCT OF DELHI)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Appellant (accused no.2) was convicted by the Sessions Court by the Judgment dtd. 27/8/2003 for the offences punishable under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 120­B of the Indian Penal Code (for short, 'IPC'). For the offence under Sec. 302, the appellant was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment. He was also convicted for the offence punishable under Sec. 307 read with Sec. 120­B of IPC, for which he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 7 years.

(3.) The allegation against this accused, along with one Vimal (since deceased) and five others, was that on 1/10/1995, around 03:30 pm, they conspired to criminally intimidate and commit the murder of Jawahar Lal (PW­3) and his relatives. The allegation is that PW­3 was running his own cable TV network, and the accused wanted him to stop the said cable TV network. The allegation of the prosecution is that on 1/10/1995 at about 03:30 pm, the accused entered the house of PW­3 Jawahar Lal where he, along with his family members, were residing. Accused nos.4 and 5 fired bullets from their revolvers at Omi Devi, mother of PW­3 and Chander Shekhar (deceased - brother of PW­3). Accused no.3 and deceased Vimal attacked Chander Shekhar (deceased) and Omi with daggers and knives. PW­3 and PW­7 suffered serious injuries. As noted earlier, Chander Shekhar died. We may note that admittedly the only allegation against the present appellant (accused no.2) is that while 6 other accused entered the house of PW­3, the appellant was standing near the gate of the gallery with katta (country­made handgun) in his hand. By the impugned judgment, the High Court has confirmed the conviction of the appellant.