MOHD. IQBAL Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Mohd. Iqbal (the appellant) challenges correctness of a judgment dated 09.10.2001in Sessions Case No. 3/2000 arising out of FIR No.108/2000 PS Tilak Marg by which he was held guilty for committing offence punishable under Section 392/34 IPC. By an order dated 10.10.2001, he was awarded RI for four years.

(2.) Allegations against the appellant were that on the night intervening 25/26.02.2000 at about 01.45 A.M. he and his associates (not arrested) robbed Nahar Singh of Rs. 15,215/-, gold chain, gold ring and wrist watch when he was travelling in TSR No. DL-1R-1351 driven by him. The police machinery was set in motion when Daily Diary (DD) No. 23A (Ex.PW-2/A) was recorded at PS Lajpat Nagar on information that 4 or 5 boys had fled after robbing an individual from TSR No. DL-1R-1351.

(3.) Appellant's counsel urged that the Trial Court did not appreciate the evidence in its true and proper perspective. The appellant was falsely implicated on suspicion and was not driving the TSR at the time of incident. There was no occasion for the complainant to have substantial cash with him on his first trip to Delhi to meet his brother in Delhi Police. The Trial Court did not appreciate that robbed article were not recovered from the appellant and the identity of the other assailants could not be established. Mohd. Iqbal was not kept in muffled face at the time of arrest and was justified to decline to participate in Test Identification Proceedings and was shown to the witness before he was produced in the Court. The delay in lodging the FIR was not explained. Complainant's brother who was posted in Delhi Police was instrumental in implicating him. Learned Addl. Public Prosecutor urged that the complainant had no prior animosity with the appellant to falsely implicate him in the case. PW-1 (Harvinder Singh) has corroborated his version.