STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH Vs. SUKHBASI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These appeals by special leave ,are preferred by the State Government against the judgment and order of the Allahabad High Court dated May 25, 1973 acquitting the respondents Sukhbasi, Ram Sanehi and Ram Shanker of offences punishable under S. 302 read with S. 34 and under Ss. 449, 460 and 394 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, for the commission of which the Civil and Sessions Judge, Farrukhabad by his judgment dated September 21, 1972 had sentenced them to death, on the first count and rigorous imprisonment for a period of 7 years under the remaining three counts. The learned Sessions Judge had also convicted the respondent Chhotelal under S. 411 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 3 years and the respondent Ashok Kumar under S. 120B of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 2 years. These respondents have also been acquitted by the High Court for the commission of offences with which they were charged.

(2.) We have with the assistance of learned counsel, appearing for the parties, gone through the judgment of the High Court as well as the evidence of the material prosecution witnesses. This was a case where during the night between December 25/26, 1970, there was a brutal and dastardly murder of Lala Bhagwat Dayal, a millionaire and his wife Smt. Ramwati Devil at their house in Chhibramau. They had been tied with rope and strangulated to death after being subjected to torture. Lala Bhagwat Dayal was the richest person of the town and earlier carried on the sarafa business, but had closed the business due to his old age and started lending money on pawn of gold and silver ornaments at his house. The miscreants broke open the iron safe kept in the bedroom of Bhagwat Dayal and removed all gold and silver ornaments worth about Rs. 10 lakhs and cash worth Rs. 22,424. The last persons to have seen Bhagwat Dayal alive were their servant Rameshwar, PW 7 and old Munim Bharat Singh, PW 18. Their version is that they both saw the respondents Sukhbasi and Ram Sanehi, two of the carpenters working on the remodelled house of Bhagwat Dayal and their companion Ram Shanker entering the house as they left on the fateful evening at about 730 p.m. The respondents Sukhbasi and Ram Sanehi along with their companion Ram Shanker effected an entry into the house on the pretext that they wanted to pledge their ornaments. On the next morning at about 7 a.m. Rameshwar, PW 7 reported for duty but found the sadar door still closed from inside although the deceased Bhagwat Dayal was an early riser and used to open it much earlier. Shortly thereafter, the other carpenter Sheo Murti, PW 15 also came for work. On finding no response they were apprehensive that something untoward had happened and Rameshwar immediately left for the house of Gajadhar Prasad, brother of the deceased, nearby and reported this to him and his sons Chandra Prakash, PW 28 and Ram Prakash. On hearing this, Ram Prakash returned with Rameshwar, PW 7 and again raised shouts but still there was no response. The two of them climbed over the roof of the house of Bakshiji and from that roof they went over to the roof of the deceased's house and finding the door of the staircase open which was rather unusual they descended over the flight of the stairs and came to the ground floor. They entered the living room and found the furnitures and other effects scattered about. They further noticed that in the bedroom though the beds were still spread over the cots the deceased Bhagwat Dayal and his wife Smt. Ramwati Devi were not to be found. In the meantime, Gajadhar Prasad and his son Chandra Prakash and other inmates of their house also arrived on the scene. They noticed that the anteroom next to the living room had been locked from outside and felt suspicious that perhaps some persons had intruded into the house the previous night and after murdering the old couple decamped with valuables keeping the dead bodies inside the anteroom. We are told that the gold and silver ornaments and cash worth about Rs. 10 lakhs were taken away, out of which gold and silver ornaments worth Rs. 1.50 lakhs were recovered from the house of the three respondents Sukhbasi, Ram Sanehi and Ram Shanker apart from currency notes of the value of Rs. 12,424 from that of the respondent Sukhbasi.

(3.) The First Information Report (Exh. Ka 60) was lodged by Chandra Prakash, PW 28 at Chhibramau Police Station at about 7.45 a.m. The report stated that the list of the looted property will be furnished later and contains the following recitals on which there was quite some discussion at the Bar :