VINAY KUMAR KUSHWHA ALIAS GULLU Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Vide this appeal, the appellant assails the judgment dtd. 18/1/2019 ( 'impugned judgment ' in short), whereby the appellant was convicted for murder of his wife; and order on sentence dtd. 29/1/2019, whereby the appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, ( 'IPC ' in short) with fine of Rs.2,000.00, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two months.

(2.) Briefly stating, case of the prosecution is that on 27/8/2012, at about 5.00 am, an information was received at Police Station Chhawala from the duty constable Ajay Pal from Rao Tula Ram Memorial Hospital, ( 'RTRM Hospital ') Jaffarpur, New Delhi-110073, regarding admission of one Vikas son of unknown, aged about 25 r/o VPO Ghumanhera, New Delhi, in injured condition due to some unknown reasons, by his friend Ravinder (PW-16) vide MLC no. 3717/12 (Ex. PW-8/A) and on the basis of the said information, DD no. 5A (Ex. PW-1/A) was registered; and the same was handed over to HC Karamvir for necessary action. Patient/injured Vikas (deceased) was referred to Safdarjung Hospital for further treatment, while shifting him to Safdarjung Hospital, Vikas expired on the way; information about his death was sent to Police Station Chhawla by Ct. Ajay (duty constable) and the same was recorded vide DD no. 8A (Ex. PW-1/B). DD no. 8-A was handed over to SI Hari Singh (PW-25), who along with Ct. Ramesh and Ct. Rambir reached RTRM hospital, where HC Karamvir met him and handed over copy of DD no. 5-A as well as MLC of Vikas. Thereafter, PW-25 got preserved the dead body of Vikas in the mortuary of RTRM hospital vide his request Ex. PW-25/A and met Ravinder (PW-16) (who got admitted the injured in RTRM hospital) and made inquiries and thereafter, they came at the spot. On inspection of the spot, it was revealed that the place of incident falls within the jurisdiction of PS Jafarpur Kalan and accordingly, PW-25 handed over the relevant papers/documents to HC Devender (PW-5), duty officer of PS Jafarpur Kalan. PW-5 recorded the same vide DD no. 15-A (Ex. PW-5/A) and the documents were handed over to HC Krishan Kumar (PW-14) for necessary action vide DD no. 16-A (Ex. PW-5/B). Information in this regard was also sent to Insp. Rajesh Dahiya, SHO/IO, PS Jafarpur Kalan, (PW-27) who requisitioned District Crime Team and left for the scene of crime. PW-27 reached at the spot i.e. near a jhuggi/tent, construction site, gram sabha land, Forest Department, Village Ghummanhera, Delhi and found that construction of boundary wall of Forest Department was being carried out in the fields of village Ghummanhera; there were many jhuggi/temporary tent structures at the site; and blood was found on the mattress/cot lying outside the tent, in which Vikas and Ravinder were living. Place of occurrence was got inspected through SI Khajjan Singh (PW-23) vide crime team inspection report Ex. PW-23/A and same was also got photographed through HC Ashok Kumar (PW-17); and seven photographs (Ex. PW-9/A and negatives Ex. PW-17/A) were taken. Inquiry from the labourers present at the spot was made and statement of Hari Ram (PW-4) was recorded by the Ins. Rajesh Dahiya (PW-27). PW-4 stated that he as well as other labourers had been residing in the temporary jhuggies/tents situated near under-construction boundary wall and was doing labour work with contractor Satyaprakash Gupta. In the evening of 26/8/2012 after taking dinner, he along with his family member was taking rest in the jhuggi. At about 8.00 pm, one Gullu/appellant, who used to reside in the adjacent jhuggi, came out of his jhuggi and started abusing. When his wife Bhuri (PW-2) objected to it, the appellant misbehaved with her. He (PW-4) tried to make him understand, but the appellant being under the influence of liquor, did not pay any heed. PW-4 then went to call other persons from the nearby tents and on his asking, Ravinder Kumar (JCB driver on site) (PW-16) and his helper Vikas/deceased came along with him and they also tried to make him understand, but to no avail. Rather, he started misbehaving and quarreling with them also. Thereafter, they all beat the appellant and he went towards the fields while extending threats to them. Then all of them went away to their respective jhuggis to sleep. In the mid-night at around 2.00 am, on hearing some noise, he (PW-4) came out of his jhuggi and found that the appellant was standing there and started quarreling with him. He called out Ravinder (PW-16) and Vikas/the deceased for help.

(3.) In order to prove its case, prosecution examined 28 witnesses.