STATE OF HARYANA Vs. SUNDER PAL AND ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Being aggrieved by the acquittal of the respondentsaccused under Section 364-A I.P.C., State of Haryana has preferred this appeal.

(2.) Case of the prosecution is that Complainant-Amit Kumar son of Madan Mohan aged nine years was kidnapped on 29.05.1996 at around 01.30 pm when he went out to play. On 006.1996, accused-Yashpal came to Madan Mohan and demanded ransom amount of Rs.10,00,000/-. Madan Mohan, Sanjay Jain and Fakir Chand decided not to report the matter to police and arranged a sum of Rs.3,50,000/- in the denomination of Rs.500/-, Rs.100/- and Rs.50/-. First and the last note of the bundles were initialed by Madan Mohan as 'MM'. On 03.06.1996, the currency of the Rs.10,00,000/- was handed over to Yashpal and on 04.06.1996, Yashpal brought back Amit Kumar and he was handed over to Madan Mohan. After enquiring from Amit Kumar (the victim boy) that he was accosted by Virender and thereafter he was taken by accused Vinod and Sohan in their motorcycle to Railway Station Sona Arjunpur where there were other accused namely Pawan, Pappu, Jagbir, Sunder Pal and Vikas. After the case was registered, the police carried out a raid and the accused were apprehended and the cash was recovered from them under the seizure memo.

(3.) Upon consideration of the evidence, the Trial Court convicted all the accused except Virender (who was not traceable) under Section 364-A I.P.C. and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life. In the appeal preferred before the High Court, accused Vikas @ Vicky, Yashpal, Vidya Sagar, Vishav Pal, Pawan Kumar, Sundar Pal and Jagbir Singh were acquitted of all the charges by the High Court. However, the High Court affirmed the conviction of the accused Vinod and Sohan and also maintained the sentence of imprisonment imposed upon them.