AJAY KUMAR Vs. STATE OF C.G.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Invoking criminal appellate jurisdiction of this Court, the sole appellant herein has preferred this criminal appeal under Sec. 374(2) of Cr.P.C. calling in question the legality, validity and correctness of the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dtd. 28/11/2017, passed by the Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Durg (Chhattisgarh) in Sessions Case No.75 of 2011, whereby he has been convicted and sentenced as under:

(2.) The case of the prosecution, in short, is that on 5/1/2011, in the afternoon at about 02:00 PM, at Champ-I, Jalebi Chowk, Pragati Nagar, District Durg (CG), the accused-appellant herein firstly abducted one Satyajeet Kehar, aged about 10 years and, thereafter, on the same day, in the evening, at Sector-5, situated in front of Jubli Park, Sector-6, committed murder of Satyajeet Kehar (hereinafter referred to as the "deceased") by strangulation and, further, between 5/1/2011 to 7/1/2011, wrote a letter to the father of the deceased, namely, Sarvjeet Kehar (not examined) and demanded ransom of Rs.1,00,000.00 for keeping his son (deceased) alive and, thereby, said to have committed offences under Ss. 365, 302 and 386 of IPC.

(3.) It is further case of the prosecution that vide Ex.P/11, Ranjit Kumar (PW-04) [elder brother of the deceased] lodged report at Police Station Chhawani to the effect that on 5/1/2011, at about 01:00 PM in the afternoon, his younger brother (deceased), who used to study in Class-V of St. Thomas School, returned from school and after changing his dress went somewhere without informing and, even when his search was made, he was not found/traceable. On the basis of aforesaid report, a missing person report was registered by the police and wheels of investigation started running. It is also the case of the prosecution that during the course of investigation, on 7/1/2011, complainant- Ranjit Kumar (PW-04) appeared at Police Station- Chhawani and supplied one envelope (Ex.P/01C) containing letter (Ex.P/02C) demanding ransom of Rs.1,00,000.00 for keeping the deceased alive, upon which, the Investigating Officer, namely, D.S. Parihar (PW-10), seized the said envelope and letter vide Ex.P/12. Thereafter, FIR (Ex.P/23) was registered by the police against unknown person for offence under Sec. 365 of IPC. Summons under Sec. 175 of CrPC were sent vide Ex.P/07 and inquest proceedings were conducted vide Ex.P/08. The accused-appellant was arrested vide Ex.P/25 and his memorandum statement under Sec. 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (for short the "IE Act") was recorded vide Ex.P/01. On 10/1/2011, at about 09:00 AM, at the instance of the appellant, vide Ex.P/02, the dead-body of the deceased was recovered from a Gutter, situated in the forest area of Sector-5. Identification of the dead-body of the deceased was also conducted vide Ex.P/03, wherein father of the deceased, namely, Sarvjeet Kehar (not examined) identified the dead-body of the deceased to be of his son (deceased). Further, at the instance of the appellant, one school copy, by which the appellant has written ransom note, has been seized vide Ex.P/05.