BABU LAL @ PAPPU Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) VIDE impugned judgment and order dated 7.5.2008 the learned Trial Judge has convicted the appellant for the offences punishable under Sections 302/364 IPC. For the offence of murder the appellant has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine in sum of Rs.5,000.00 in default to undergo simple imprisonment for 2 months. For the offence punishable under Section 364 IPC he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and to pay a fine in sum of Rs.5,000.00 in default to undergo simple imprisonment for 2 months. The sentences have been directed to run concurrently. We understand this to mean that after undergoing the sentence for 10 years it would be treated that the appellant has undergone the sentence for the offence punishable under Section 364 IPC.

(2.) THE broad contours of the case set up by the prosecution are that the deceased Kanhiya Lal aged 11 years along with his father Diwari Lal PW-3 and sister Rakhi PW-8 resided in a jhuggi near Hanuman Mandir, Bhama Shah Road, Model Town, Delhi. The appellant Babu Lal and juvenile coaccused Inder Dev also resided in the same jhuggi cluster. Appellant Babu Lal, co-accused Inder Dev and deceased Kanhiya Lal were all employed in a sweet shop, run by Vinod Sharma PW-4, situated near Hanuman Mandir. Appellant Babu Lal used to tease Rakhi PW-8, sister of the deceased, to which Diwari Lal PW-2 and Kanhiya Lal often objected. Motivated by this, appellant Babu Lal along with his co-accused Inder Dev kidnapped Kanhiya Lal and murdered him in the sweet shop of Vinod and hid the body in a trunk inside the godown of the adjoining temple.

(3.) SI Kishan Lal PW-13 who recorded the statement Ex.PW-3/A made an endorsement Ex.PW-13/A under said statement of Diwari Lal and got an FIR registered for the offence of kidnapping. He searched Babu Lal and apprehended him near Hanuman Mandir. He interrogated Babu Lal and recorded his disclosure statement Ex.PW-9/A wherein Babu Lal disclosed his involvement in the murder of Kanhiya Lal. Babu Lal further stated that he could get the dead body of Kanhiya Lal recovered from within an iron trunk lying in a hall situated behind the temple. He further disclosed that he had burnt the clothes worn by the deceased and could get the remnants of the same as well as the danda (fatta) used in the commission of the offence recovered from the dump yard of the temple.