KASHMIR SINGH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants Kuldeep Kumar and Kashmir Singh have been convicted for having committed the murder of one Jatinder Singh by virtue of the impugned judgment dated 27.05.1997 in Sessions Case No. 225/1995 arising out of FIR No. 565/1994 registered at Police Station Kashmiri Gate under Section 302/34 IPC. The appellants have also impugned the order on the point of sentence dated 31.05.1997 whereby the appellants were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life. They were also required to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- each and in default of payment of the said fine, to further undergo simple imprisonment for three months.

(2.) The case of the prosecution is that the appellants as also the deceased Jatinder Singh were residents of Mukatsar, Punjab. Jatinder Singh had a spare parts shop. On 17.10.1994, the appellants along with Jatinder Singh boarded a bus at Mukatsar, Punjab at 5.30 a.m. which was bound for Delhi. The three persons came to Delhi with the object of purchasing spare parts. It is the case of the prosecution that PW4 Harbans Lal, who is the father of the deceased Jatinder Singh gave him a sum of Rs. 15,000/- for the said purpose. It is also the case of the prosecution that PW8 Parveen Kumar had also given a sum of Rs. 2,000/- to Jatinder Singh for the purpose of purchasing spare parts for him. The said spare parts were to be purchased from PW2 Sanjay Khanna whose address was allegedly supplied by PW8 Parveen Kumar. It is the further case of the prosecution that Jatinder Singh on his arrival in Delhi went to his cousin PW6 Neelam's house in the evening of 17.10.1994 at about 5.00 p.m. It is also the case of the prosecution that Jatinder Singh stayed in the house of Neelam in the night intervening 17/18.10.1994 and that he had left Neelam's house in the morning of 18.10.1994. According to the prosecution, at about 8 or 9 p.m. on 17.10.1994, two 'friends' of Jatinder Singh had gone to meet him at Neelam's house. Jatinder Singh had gone out of the house at that point of time to meet his said friends but he returned thereafter and spent the night at Neelam's house.

(3.) It is also the case of the prosecution that the appellants Kuldeep Kumar and Kashmir Singh stayed at Hotel Shish Mahal, Fatehpuri on 17/18.10.1994. According to the prosecution, the appellants stayed there under the assumed names of Raj Kumar and Gurnam Singh and entered the same in the Register Ex.P19 maintained by the said Hotel. As per the prosecution, at about 12.00 noon, all the three persons went to PW2 Sanjay Khanna's house at Kashmiri Gate with the object of purchasing spare parts. PW2 Sanjay Khanna had seen the three of them at his shop.