CHANDER SHEKHAR JADHAV Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this appeal, the appellant challenges the impugned judgment of the Trial Court dtd. 16/7/2019 by which, the appellant Chander Shekhar was convicted for murder of Harsh Vardhan @ Lala, as also the order on sentence dtd. 20/7/2019, whereby the appellant was sentenced to imprisonment of life along with fine of ?10,000/- and in default whereof, simple imprisonment for three months for offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC'). The two other accused persons Sushil Sharma @ Bali Pandit and Pankaj @ Rajan were acquitted by the Trial Court vide judgment dtd. 16/7/2019.

(2.) In nutshell, facts of the case are that on 1/7/2012 at about 9.00 PM Rajan, Chander Shekhar Jadhav and Bali Pandit came to the house of the complainant (PW-2) and took the deceased with them on the pretext of having dinner outside. When the deceased did not return back to his house, the complainant (PW-2) called up the deceased who told her that he was having food with Bali Pandit, Rajan and Chander Shekhar and when PW-2 again called deceased, his phone was switched off. Thereafter, she sent her son Mohnish Vardhan @ Manu to look for the deceased and after some time Manu came back and told her that the deceased was at the house of Chander Shekhar, Flat No.121B, Pocket D-2, Janta Flats, Kondli Gharoli, Mayur Vihar, Phase III, Delhi. Thereafter, the complainant slept and on the next morning, the complainant sent her other son Himanshu @ Tanu to look for deceased and at about 11.00 AM, Himanshu called the complainant and informed that Harsh Vardhan was lying dead inside the room of the said flat of appellant Chander Shekhar upon which, the complainant rushed to the spot. On 2/7/2012, information was received by police vide DD No.12A (Ex. PW-18/A) regarding murder of a boy. SI Amarjit Singh (PW-12) reached the spot and found a dead body lying on a bed in a half naked condition. On the basis of the statement of the mother of the deceased/ complainant (PW-2), FIR No.236/2012 dtd. 2/7/2012 under Ss. 302/34 IPC at P.S. Ghazipur (Ex. PW-18/C) was registered. The dead body was sent to LBS Hospital Mortuary and the post-mortem examination was conducted on 3/7/2012.

(3.) Dr. B.N. Acharya (PW-3) at LBS Hospital Mortuary conducted the post-mortem on the dead body of the deceased and tendered his report (Ex. PW-3/A) and opined: