SHOKEEN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above captioned appeal has been filed by the appellants Shokeen and Noor Mohd. @ Hafiz challenging their conviction for the offences punishable under Sections 302/392/411 IPC vide impugned judgment and order dated 1.4.2008. Vide the same judgment, co-accused Sanjay, Furkan, Abdul Majid and Anwar have been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 411 IPC and co-accused Atta-Ur-Rehman has been acquitted of the charges framed against him.

(2.) Probably for the reason Sanjay, Furkan, Abdul Majid and Anwar were convicted for the offence punishable under Section 411 IPC and for which offence they have been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years and by the time sentence was pronounced they had already undergone the sentence in excess of what was imposed upon them, they have not preferred any Appeal challenging their conviction. Thus, only Shokeen and Noor Mohd. are before us.

(3.) Briefly stated the case sought to be established by the prosecution is that one Paras Jain used to carry out Hawala operations in and around Delhi. He used to collect money from persons and deliver the same as per the understanding and obviously used to receive some commission. Many persons used to assist him or were associated with him of which his nephew Praveen Jain was one such person and accused Atta-Ur-Rehman was another. Sometime in the year 2004 accused Atta-Ur-Rehman got swayed by the greed for money and decided to rob the money collected by Praveen Jain to be given to Paras Jain as a part of the Hawala transactions. Accused Furkan, Abdul Majid, Anwar, Sanjay, Shokeen and Noor Mohd. @ Hafiz joined him and together they entered into a conspiracy to rob the money collected by Praveen Jain from his house. As per their plan appellant Shokeen and Noor Mohd. were to enter the house of Praveen Jain with the excuse that they were to hand over Hawala money to him. Accused Anwar was to enter the house after a while pretending to be a rickshaw puller who brought Shokeen and Noor Mohd. to the place and demand his fare, while the others would remain outside the house in a car. The accused inside would commit the robbery and if need be to murder Praveen Jain to fulfil the object of their entry i.e. robbery and to give effect to their plan, on 14.8.2004 appellants Shokeen and Noor Mohd. @ Hafiz visited the house of Praveen Jain at Flat No.96A, DDA Flats, Jhilmil Colony, Delhi, but did not meet him as he was not there. They met Santok Chand Parakh PW-1 the father of Praveen Jain and Pawan Jain PW-2 the elder brother of Praveen Jain. They waited for Praveen Jain for sometime but when Praveen Jain did not arrive, they made a telephone call to someone whom they informed about the absence of Praveen Jain. After sometime a call was received at the house of Praveen Jain which was answered by Pawan Jain and the caller told him that he wanted to speak to one of the two persons present at the house. On the receiver being handed over to Noor Mohd. he i.e. Noor Mohd. spoke with the caller for a while and thereafter handed over the receiver to Pawan Jain. The caller disclosed his name as Haji Kamal and gave the number 20070874 and asked Pawan Jain to tell Praveen Jain to call back at said number. Pawan Jain noted said number in his diary. On the directions of the caller, Shokeen and Noor Mohd. left the house. On 16.8.2004 at around 11:00 AM Shokeen and Noor Mohd. again visited the house of Praveen Jain and this time they met Praveen Jain. Santok Chand Parakh the father of Praveen Jain was also present at the house. During this time Mukesh Kumar Bhagat @ Guddu PW-8 also visited Praveen Jain and handed over to him Rs.2.25 lacs in cash and assisted Praveen in counting the cash in a room of the house. As per their plan, co-accused Anwar entered the house of Praveen Jain pretending to be a rickshaw puller and demanded his fare from Shokeen and Noor Mohd. which they paid. At around 12:15 PM Santok Chand Parakh left his house. When Santok Chand Parakh PW-1 returned to his house at around 1:30 PM he found Praveen lying on a double bed with his mouth gagged and his hands, legs and mouth tied with pieces of cloth and with blood smeared on his face and on the bed-sheet.