RAJA @ RAJINDER Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 7.09.2009 of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal No. 770-DB of 2006, whereby the Division Bench has confirmed the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Sirsa in Sessions Case No. 357 of 2003 convicting the present appellant for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and Section 201 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentencing him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and payment of fine of Rs.5000/- under Section 302 and rigorous imprisonment of three years and fine of Rs.1000/- under Section 201 read with Section 34 IPC with default clause for the fine amount in respect of both the offences with the stipulation that both the sentences would be concurrent.

(2.) Bereft of unnecessary details, the prosecution case, as has been unfurled is that on 18.1.2003 about 6.30 p.m., Het Ram, the deceased, had left his home with the accused-appellant and did not return till the morning of 19.1.2003. The family members of the deceased searched for him at various places and made enquiries from the relations but despite their best efforts, he could not be found. In course of that enquiry it was revealed by the owner of a tea-stall that on 18.01.2003 about 8.30 p.m. the appellant and the deceased had taken tea together and thereafter they had left that place. Being so informed by the tea stall owner, Subhash, PW-8, brother of the deceased along with Pala Ram and Ramesh went to the house of the accused-appellant, and came to learn from his father Krishan Kumar, the co-accused, that Raja had gone to village Kharia but could not be contacted as the telephone number of village Kharia was out of order. Thereafter, Subhash, PW-8, the informant returned to his house and waited till night for the return of Het Ram. When the deceased did not come till night, Subhash along with his relations again proceeded to the house of the appellant who was present in the house, and informed them that in the night of 18.01.2003 he and the deceased had taken tea together but when they were returning to their houses, a Sikh boy met them and Het Ram went with that boy on his motor cycle. After getting the said information, when the informant and others were returning from the house of the accused, they noticed blood stains in the street in front of the houses of Mohan and Mahender Singh. It aroused suspicion of the informant that his brother might have been murdered by the appellant and the dead body could have been disposed of. The motive behind the incident, as mentioned, was that the appellant was indulged in consuming poppy husk and the father of the appellant had a suspicion that the deceased was instrumental in making his son a drug addict. On the basis of the aforesaid allegations, an FIR No. 45 dated 20.1.2003 was lodged at the police station Rania. After the criminal law was set in motion, the investigating agency went to the place where blood stains were found and prepared the site plan and seized the bloodstained earth. On the next day, police went to village Bani in connection with the investigation and blood stains were found on the stairs, platform and wall of a well situated in the old Abadi of the village. The police collected the bloodstained bricks from there and noticed a bundle inside the well and eventually recovered the dead body of Het Ram which was found inside the said bundle. The investigating agency sent the dead body for post-mortem to the General Hospital, Sirsa and arrested the accused on 22.1.2003. During the investigation the appellant suffered disclosure statement, Exh. P. EE, to the effect that he had taken Het Ram to the tea stall and thereafter to his 'Nohra' on a false pretext, where he had caused a blow with a knife on the neck of Het Ram about 10.00 P.M. on 18.01.2003. Het Ram tried to escape but he chased him and when the deceased fell down in front of the house of Mahender Singh, he inflicted several blows with the knife on the chest and the waist region of the deceased. Being unable to drag the dead body back to his courtyard, he took the help of his father for the disposal of the body. The blanket worn by the deceased was burnt in the courtyard of the appellant. Thereafter, the bloodstained clothes of the appellant and the knife were recovered by the police from the pit of latrine on the basis of the statement of the accused- appellant. The parcels of bloodstained earth, bloodstained clothes of the accused and the deceased, the seized knife and other materials were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Madhuban, for examination and the report, Exhibit P.RR, was received by the prosecution. During the investigation, statement of Sukha, PW-7, was recorded on 21.1.2003 wherein he had stated that the deceased was murdered by the appellant as the appellant was suspicious that the deceased had illicit relationship with his wife. Similar statement was also made by Nanak, PW-9. The investigating officer recorded statement of number of witnesses and after completing the investigation, placed the chargesheet against the accused-appellant for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 201 read with Section 34 IPC. The co-accused, Krishan Kumar, was chargesheeted for the offence under Sections 201 read with Section 34 IPC. After the chargesheet was laid, the competent court committed the matter to the court of Session for trial.

(3.) The prosecution in order to substantiate the charges levelled against the accused persons examined as many as 13 witnesses. The principal witnesses are Dr. N.K. Mittal, PW-1, who had conducted the post-mortem on the dead body of the deceased, Sukha, PW-7, Subhash, PW-8, the brother of the deceased and the informant, Nanak, PW-9, Mahender, PW-10, who had seen the deceased and the appellant having tea together in the tea stall and Kalawati, PW-11, mother of the deceased who had witnessed the deceased leaving the house in the company of the accused-appellant.