SANJAY RAJAK Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant assails his sentence and conviction under Section 364(A) I.P.C to rigorous imprisonment for life with a default stipulation. Co-accused Balram convicted by the Trial Court has been acquitted by the High Court. Consequently, the appellant has been acquitted of the charge under Section 120B I.P.C.

(2.) The victim, according to the prosecution case was a school going child aged about 5-6 years. According to the allegations, he is said to have been kidnapped from the school on 12.04.2007 at about 12:15 pm. by the co-accused Balram. The appellant and the co-accused were last seen together along with the victim. In their confessional statement both the accused disclosed that after kidnapping the child they had killed him and buried the corpse in the bed of river Saryu at Chhapra. The police did not make any effort to recover the body. The belongings of the deceased victim were recovered from the house of the appellant.

(3.) Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that according to PW-10, the classmate of the deceased, co-accused Balram had kidnapped him from the school. PW-11 and PW-12, the parents of the victim had further deposed that ransom calls were made by Balram. Acquittal of the co-accused makes the conviction of the appellant unsustainable. Reliance on PWs. 5, 8 and 9 that the victim was last seen with the appellant is based on a preponderance of probabilities only. PW-5 had deposed having seen the appellant along with Balram and the victim. The prosecution case against the appellant is based on circumstantial evidence with the link in the chain of events being incomplete. The failure to take any step for recovery of the dead body leaves it open to doubt whether any such incident of kidnapping had occurred or not. Reliance in support of the submissions was placed on Sattatiya alias Satish Rajanna Kartalla vs. State of Maharashtra, 2008 3 SCC 210, Lohit Kaushal vs. State of Haryana, 2009 17 SCC 106 and Iqbal and another vs. State of Uttar Pradesh, 2015 6 SCC 623.