PARMINDER SINGH SETHI Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal under the proviso to Section 372 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 on behalf of the victim (namely, the Appellant No. 2 Smt Jagwant Kaur), who is the wife of the deceased Jagjit Singh. The appeal is directed against the impugned judgment and / or order dated 16.03.2010 in Sessions Case No. 7/2008 delivered by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Tis Hazari Court, Delhi, whereby the accused Mohd Shafiq (the Respondent No. 2 herein) was acquitted of the charges under Sections 302/201 IPC for having committed the murder of Jagjit Singh and for having disposed of his body in a gunny bag so as to cause the disappearance of evidence.

(2.) The case for the prosecution was that Jagjit Singh had given a sum of 6 lakhs by way of loan to the accused Mohd Shafiq. Request for return of the money was being made from time to time and that on 12.04.2008, Jagjit Singh had sent his wife (Smt. Jagwant Kaur PW-9) and his son (Prabhjot Singh PW-10) to Mohd Shafiq to demand return of the said money. However, according to the prosecution, Mohd Shafiq did not respond positively and, thereafter both Smt. Jagwant Kaur and Prabhjot Singh narrated the story to the deceased Jagjit Singh. It is further the case of the prosecution that on 18.04.2008 between 1 to 1.30 p.m., a call was received from Mohd Shafiq by Jagjit Singh, whereupon Jagjit Singh left his house and went to Mohd Shafiq's residence. He did not return to his house. And, it is apparently the case of the prosecution, that Smt. Jagwant Kaur and other relatives searched for him for one or two days before a missing person's report was lodged on 22.04.2008 at police station C.R. Park [Exhibit PW-9/C]. In the meanwhile, a dead body had been recovered on 19.04.2008 at about 11.05 a.m. wrapped in a quilt placed inside a gunny bag which had been sewed from outside. The gunny bag was recovered from near the petrol pump at Rajender Market, Tis Hazari, Delhi. The dead body was, however, identified as that of Jagjit Singh, several days later, i.e., on 23.04.2008 by Smt. Jagwant Kaur and her son Prabhjot Singh. The accused Mohd Shafiq was arrested on 29.04.2008. He is stated to have made a disclosure statement whereupon the following articles are said to have been recovered:

(3.) The trial court has, as pointed out above, acquitted Mohd Shafiq of all charges against him. This, it did, in view of the fact that the recoveries were not established. The trial court was also of the view that the alleged loan transaction of 6 lakhs between the deceased Jagjit Singh and Mohd Shafiq was also not established on the basis of the evidence. Certain mobile call records were sought to be pressed into service by the prosecution to indicate the location of the deceased Jagjit Singh and that of Mohd Shafiq on 18.04.2008. However, the trial court, and in our view rightly so, held that the said mobile call records were inadmissible in evidence in view of the clear provisions of Section 65 B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 as also the clear position in law in the case of Rakesh Kumar and Ors. v. State,2009 183 DLT 658 and State (N.C.T. of Delhi) v. Navjot Sandhu @ Afsan Guru, 2005 11 SCC 600.